India, June 23: 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.
McAfee 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%).
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.
“Health and wellness have become a bigger part of people’s daily lives online, but so have the risks,” said Pratim Mukherjee, Senior Director of Engineering, McAfee India. “Scammers are getting better at making fake health advice, products, and offers look credible, especially as AI makes these scams easier to create and harder to spot. That’s why it’s so important for Consumers to pause, verify information through trusted sources, and think twice before clicking suspicious links or offers.”
Social Media Remains the Epicenter of Health Advice and Health Scams
Health scams are no longer confined to suspicious websites or spam emails. They are increasingly appearing across social media feeds, messaging apps, online advertisements, and influencer-led content.
- 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%)
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.
- 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%)
- 66% of 25–34-year-olds have seen fake or suspicious celebrity-linked health content
How to Protect Yourself from Health & Wellness Scams
McAfee helps consumers fight back by combining digital education with proactive AI protection. Its technology scans text, QR codes, and websites to flag phishing and scams before they cause harm-helping consumers verify what’s real before they click, share, or buy.
McAfee‘s Top Tips to Stay Safe Online:
- Protect Your Privacy: Limit how much personal data you share.
- Automate Safety: Use AI-powered scam protection tools to block threats before they reach you.
- Keep Funds Secure: Never send money, gift cards, or cryptocurrency to someone you haven’t met in person.
- Flag Red Flags: Avoid sudden requests involving QR codes, instant payments, or verification codes.
*Consumer Research Methodology
A McAfee survey focused on online scams and their impact on consumers, was conducted online in January 2026. A total of 7,000 adults globally participated, including 1,000 adults age 18+ in India.