Online: ​Two-thirds of Indians (66%) have encountered a health or wellness scam: McAfee Health & Wellness research

As health and wellness content continues to dominate online conversations, new research from McAfee reveals a growing wave of scams, misinformation, and AI-generated deception targeting Indian consumers. The findings highlight how scammers are increasingly exploiting trust in influencers, wellness trends, and emerging AI technologies to spread misleading health advice and fraudulent schemes.

Young adults targeted

The research reveals that 71% of India, especially young adults, are being targeted by health scams which are increasingly engineered to exploit urgency, trust, and everyday online behavior. Nearly one-third of Indians surveyed reported being pushed to take immediate action through tactics such as visiting a website promoted in an ad (31%), clicking links shared via social media or messaging apps (31%), downloading an app or file (26%), or scanning a QR code (23%).

Sophisticated scams

The scams themselves are becoming increasingly sophisticated and wide-ranging — from fake weight-loss or fitness products (23%) and misleading information about diseases or medical products (20%), to fake supplements or vitamins (18%) and fraudulent medical treatments or “cures” (18%). Consumers are also encountering impersonation scams involving healthcare providers or pharmacies (13%) and even government health agencies (10%), underscoring how cybercriminals are blending health misinformation with social engineering tactics to make scams appear more credible, urgent, and difficult to detect.

Influencers continue to shape health decisions

Misinformation is increasingly exploiting the trust consumers place in celebrities and influencers, making manipulated health content appear more credible and authentic. In fact, 55% of Indians say celebrity or influencer endorsements impact their likelihood to trust health advice, highlighting how scammers are leveraging emotional trust, credibility, and social influence to make misleading wellness claims appear authentic and believable.

Platform tactics

More than half of Indians surveyed (54%) say they have seen health or wellness content that appeared to be endorsed by a celebrity or public figure and was later revealed or suspected to be fake, misleading, or AI-generated. Among those who have encountered celebrity- or influencer-endorsed health content, the leading platforms are YouTube (68%), Instagram (67%), Facebook (43%), social media advertisements (42%), online ads or sponsored posts (30%), X/Twitter (25%), messaging apps (22%), websites or blogs (19%), Snapchat (18%), traditional media (16%), email (15%), and text messages (13%).

At a glance:

64% of Indians surveyed encounter health or wellness advice on social media at least weekly

More than one-third (34%) of people surveyed encounter health advice daily or multiple times per day on social media

Social media is also the #1 place people surveyed encounter health scams (53%), followed by messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram (37%), phone calls (33%), websites or online ads (30%), email (26%), online marketplaces (24%), text messages (23%), and in-person interactions (19%)