Taking to Instagram last night, the 39-year-old posted a selfie with her signature red lips, writing: “For the record, I do not endorse keto gummies. It’s a scam involving some pretty amateur photoshopping. Please don’t buy them.”
She went on to say, “If you see the ad, please send it to me and please report it. If you check out my posts you’ll see that I don’t endorse or promote any products.
“Thank you to those who got in touch to check with me directly before buying them and brought it to my attention. I appreciate it immensely.”
Hayes is not the first media star to be targeted by the ads.
Radio host Toni Street was also the subject of scams mere weeks ago and took to Instagram with a similar message as Hayes, asking fans to report any posts they came across.
The fake ads used doctored images of the NZME Coast broadcaster’s body and a shocking fake English accent to spruik diet pills. At the time of the scam, drastically altered images appeared online without her permission.
Street spoke to The New Zealand Herald admitting it was a total scam and she would never endorse the weight loss product.
“It’s outrageous,” said Street, who champions body positivity and authentic social media content.
“They’ve stolen, uplifted images, video that I’ve done over many, many years and they’ve doctored my voice into a very unusual English accent that sounds nothing like my own voice and they’ve obviously enhanced a couple of photos to make me look a lot bigger than what I am to show that I’ve lost weight.
“It’s absolutely nothing to do with me.
“I think I’m pretty clear on my Instagram, I’m all about body positivity. I would never be flogging anything that was some sort of quick fix for weight loss.”
Hayes becomes the latest in a long line of celebrities and well-known New Zealanders to have their image stolen to endorse products online.
Last year, former National MP Paula Bennett was targeted in an online weight loss scam.
A fake Facebook page circulated with photos of the former deputy party leader before and after her gastric bypass surgery.
But the page falsely claimed she used a product called Via Keto, supposedly a “natural product” that offered a “simpler, faster and safer method of losing weight”.
Earlier in the year a fake Facebook page pretending to be Newstalk ZB’s Kate Hawkesby circulated telling people they’d won a share of $20,000.
In 2020, photos of radio host Mike Hosking were used to trick people into falling for cryptocurrency scams.
