With manipulated photos, another post on Facebook (FB) is impersonating a Filipino doctor to sell granola mixed nuts that supposedly aid in weight loss.
Pretending to be Dr. Josephine Rojo, a rhinoplasty and fasting specialist with a following of 932,000 on FB, an FB page using the doctor’s name thanked people for joining this year’s celebration of National Low Carb Day, then urged netizens to buy a mixed nuts cereal called “Super Meal.”
The sham post, published on Nov. 1 and which continues to circulate this December, carried a video that showed Rojo giving tips to gain a slimmer waist and two photos of the doctor and others seen holding a pack of the mixed nuts product. The video narrator said Rojo created the cereal, and it is now available for sale.
The images have been edited.
The photo of Rojo in red scrubs is a screen grab from her June 8 Instagram post, where she was originally holding a blue cup. This has been used in another hoax promoting the nut product.
(Read VERA FILES FACT CHECK: ALTERED photos of doctor are used to scam netizens)
The second photo of Rojo with two other people, was grabbed from a March 28 FB photo uploaded by a fitness coach during a meet-and-greet event with the doctor. The two men were not holding any packs of cereal in the original.
The clip of Rojo giving weight loss advice was from an Oct. 19 video published on her YouTube channel. The doctor never mentioned the name of the product in the 16-minute video.
Rojo has denied endorsing any such product in a Sept. 12 FB post, stating that any posts claiming otherwise come from scam accounts.
Alongside the impostor page’s video is a link in the caption where to buy the cereal. The link leads to a suspicious website that asks for personal information, and providing private details will only lead to a “Thank you” page without any confirmation of the order or mode of payment.
FB page Dr. Josephine Grace C.Rojo (created on Oct. 17) published the video, which garnered over 11,000 reactions, 4,000 comments, 500 shares, and 1.1 million views. The page previously posed to be actress Kathryn Bernardo before changing its name on Oct. 28.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
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