Woman Warns Of Fake AI Facebook Video Claiming To Sell High Blood Pressure Cure After Her Own Family Member Fell Victim To It

If you think scams only happen to easy targets, think again. With how sophisticated they’ve become, anyone can fall victim without even realising it.

Recently, Malaysian TikToker Claudia Ng (my.franchiseguide) shared how her elderly family member, who's in her 80s, was scammed by fraudsters who targeted her wellbeing.

Claudia, who kept the elderly family member’s identity private to protect her, recalled that the incident began when the latter chanced upon a Facebook post of an AI-generated video claiming to have found a natural cure for high blood pressure. 

To anyone unfamiliar with AI videos, the clip looked convincing, featuring a “reporter” presenting in a news-style format that a cure had been found for Malaysians.

“She clicked, and she engaged. And from then on, the scammers just wouldn’t stop engaging with her. Every single day, they WhatsApp and they leave her voice messages,” said Claudia. 

Claudia later listened to the voice messages, where the scammers sounded “kind” and “caring”, even reminding her family member to drive safely and asking if she had eaten.

“They claimed that they are a hospital group from Hong Kong. Over a period of three months, she has given them multiple big sums of money, buying supplements from them, hoping that she can stop medication eventually,” revealed Claudia, who also said that the scammers spoke with a "thick Chinese accent". 

When Claudia checked the product her family member had bought, she noticed it had no expiry date, incorrect translations on the labels, and that payment was only accepted via cash on delivery with no receipt provided.

The scammers came up with various excuses to demand more money, telling the family member her case was “so special” that she needed to switch to a different supplement. They also claimed that the “hospital group” was opening a branch in Malaysia and was offering the top 30 customers a chance to invest in their health program.

“She trusted them completely. We even took her for a psychotic check and to the temple to see if she’d been hypnotised,” Claudia said, later confirming in the comments that she hadn’t.

The family eventually had to freeze the elderly member’s bank account and made multiple visits to the police station to report the case. At the station, they were told that “on average, there are 20 to 30 scams reported” daily, with victims of all ages, from young to old.

Claudia said the family had gone to the police "at least six times", eventually reaching the station chief, only to learn that recovered money wouldn’t go back to the victim. The family member’s last transfer led to a durian exporter, which turned out to be a shell company, leaving the police powerless too. 

“And that was when it really hit me. No wonder scams are so rampant these days, because they are so difficult to catch,” asserted Claudia.

“What angered me the most wasn’t the money. It was listening to the voice messages they sent her – they sounded so caring, so patient, so incredibly genuine. They didn’t just manipulate her trust, they also manipulated her fear about her health,” she continued, noting that her family member is healthy and only takes a low dose of medication for high blood pressure.

The scammers hadn’t just taken money — they had played with her mind, which enraged Claudia the most.

She shared the story to raise awareness, urging others to protect the elderly around them by teaching them to spot AI videos and warning them against talking to strangers online. 

“Remind them one simple rule – if it is too good to be true, it usually is,” she said.

While some thanked Claudia for sharing her story, others recounted similar experiences, with one netizen revealing that a family friend’s wife had invested RM300K (S$96.8K) of her savings with someone who simply chatted with her.

Many expressed shock at how intricate scams have become, especially with AI involved. Some advised avoiding unverified links altogether, while others suggested that all social media platforms should require a mandatory AI-video tag.