Scroll through social media for five minutes and you’re almost guaranteed to see something like these:

“Take this plant extract — it reverses diabetes!”
“Doctors are no longer prescribing this medication.”
“Shrink your goiter with this ancient remedy.”

The ads look convincing. They use medical language, dramatic before-and-after photos, fabricated testimonials and sometimes even stolen images and videos of real physicians. But behind many of these claims is a troubling reality: misinformation that can delay treatment, worsen disease and place patients at real risk.

As physicians, we are seeing the consequences of these fake medical ads more frequently — and more painfully — in the clinic.

Patients come in with uncontrolled blood sugar after stopping their prescribed medications because an online supplement promised a “natural cure.” Others delay evaluation of a growing neck mass after being reassured by an herbal cream advertised to “dissolve goiters.” Some spend thousands of pesos on unregulated products with unknown ingredients, while their actual condition quietly progresses.

The internet has given the public access to a multitude of information, but it has also blurred the line between education and exploitation.

Why endocrine disorders are easy targets

Endocrine diseases such as diabetes, thyroid disorders, osteoporosis and obesity are chronic, often lifelong conditions. They require ongoing management, lifestyle changes and regular follow-up. Understandably, patients may feel fatigued, frustrated, or overwhelmed — and that emotional vulnerability is precisely what makes them targets.

Fake ads are carefully designed to appeal to hope. They promise quick results, minimal effort and freedom from injections, pills, or monitoring. They often frame conventional treatment as harmful, unnecessary, or part of a conspiracy. Science is replaced by anecdotes. Regulation is replaced by marketing. What these ads never show are long-term outcomes, side effects, or what happens when the product doesn’t work.