Toni Street's image is being used by online scammers yet again. Photo / Toni Street
Toni Street's image is being used by online scammers yet again. Photo / Toni Street
Radio star Toni Street is warning fans yet again not to fall for a gummy weight loss ad that is being promoted using images of her.
Taking to her Instagram account this morning, the NZME Coast broadcaster shared two images of sponsored advertisements she has seen on the social media platform warning fans they are fake.
“Please do not give these people your money,” she said adding, “I would never promote weight loss gummies.”
Toni Street has been targeted by scammers again. Photo / Instagram
The star also pointed out the name of the accounts - one being Abdallah Hossam and the other, Cantanes Juan y Fidelina - writing, “Look at the name of the people trying to sell these to you, that’s the giveaway!”
This is not the first time Street’s image has been used by scammers without her permission. She was also targeted in April and spoke to the Herald, saying she was outraged by the act.
“It’s outrageous,” the star who champions body positivity and authentic social media content said.
“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.
“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.”
The advertisement shared around in April featured three doctored images of Street purporting to be three weeks apart. A badly lipsynced advertisement with a distinct British accent praises the keto gummies and includes a claim that Street recommends them.
NZME radio host Toni Street is the latest celebrity to have her doctored images used in a fake ad scam. Photo / Supplied
Street said she felt angry at the scammers.
“My initial reaction was ‘how dare they use my image that way’.
“I like to be an authentic person on Instagram and to think that some people are getting sucked in thinking I’m flogging off a weight loss miracle gummy bear, it makes me extremely angry and I hate that they get away with this and there seems to be no recourse.”
Street is one of many in a long line of celebrities and well-known New Zealanders to have their image stolen to endorse products online.
Paula Bennett has been caught up in a weight-loss scam using her image.
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.
