In the scam, an attempt was made to sell diet pills with the faces of Finnish celebrities without permission.
The scam used, among other things, photos of journalist Maria Veitola. PASI LEISMA
Outrageous scam ads are spreading on social media encouraging people to buy diet pills. Edited pictures of, among others, Miss Finland 2011 have been used in the scam Sara from Siepihost May Day from Pimiä and editor from Maria Veitola.
In the fake photos, three of the above-mentioned Finnish celebrities’ photos have been edited with a heavy hand. The fake ads have edited before and after photos, in the first one the people clearly look the biggest. On the side of the spoof photos, there are writings in which the celebrities allegedly recommend the product in their own words, which helped them get to their “dream body”.
Iltalehti contacted Siepi and Pimiä, who did not want to comment on the matter at all. However, they assure their followers in their Instagram stories that it is a scam that you should not fall for.
Sara Sieppi was one whose pictures were used in the marketing of the scam. Inka Soveri
Vappu Pimiä, who fell victim to hoax photos, did not want to comment on the unpleasant situation any further. Atte Kajova
Iltalehti also reached out to Veitola, who found out about the scam through his social media followers.
– My follower asked if this product really works. I said “what the hell preparation?” Veitola tells Iltalehte.
Immoral weight loss marketing
Veitola is extremely angered by the scam. Veitola says that he has even tested how far you can go in ordering the diet pills mentioned in the scam. He says that he went to the scam company’s website, where he answered the questions it asked – and was shocked by the result.
– It asked, “how much do you weigh now and how much would you like to weigh”. In the test mind, I defined my weight goal as a figure that would be a life-threatening underweight for a person of my size, Veitola opens to Iltalehti.
– The system created by artificial intelligence was of the opinion that this would be completely possible with a slimming product. It did not alert, for example, that “your goal is unrealistic”. Instead, the system claimed that I could safely lose weight with those capsules to drastically underweight in two months, Veitola says in horror.
Maria Veitola does not encourage people to fall for such scams. PASI LEISMA
Veitola herself has an eating disorder background and finds it particularly offensive that someone immorally dares to use her photos in such an outrageous and unauthorized manner.
– Absolutely incomprehensible that this can even be done to a person. I’m just so tired of the diet business and the kind of environment that has been created around crash diets. How people are blamed for being bigger – and even as summer approaches, Veitola sums up her feelings.
– It’s an attempt to market some miracle solution that will probably make your body feel really bad. It should be clear to everyone at this point, as the research results say, that no crash diet leads to any permanent weight loss, but it messes up the functioning of both body and mind, Veitola emphasizes.
Scams maintain false definitions of appearance
Veitola has said in her Instagram stories that the fast diet business is the last thing she would like to be involved in. Veitola says that he still stands behind his words.
– I hope that people understand that those are not the only manipulated images. For example, wellness coaches all over the world are selling some kind of fast diet on Instagram, even though all those pictures are manipulated, Veitola reminds.
Veitola is particularly angered by the fact that toxic “dream body” definitions are maintained with such scams. Finally, Veitola summarizes the most important lesson of his experience.
– I don’t have anything else to say except that God forbid you buy such crap, Veitola says succinctly to Iltalehte.
Maria Veitola warns Iltalehti and on her Instagram account about scams related to the slimming business. PASI LEISMA