A plastic surgeon says his patient’s before-and-after surgery results were fraudulently used to sell a $25 nonsurgical contouring device in paid advertisements on social media.
The stolen video actually shows the results of a technique 15 years in the making, that surgically corrects up to nine different layers of the face and neck, and comes at a cost of $40,000-$50,000.
That’s according to a pricing sheet on the doctor’s website, and social media posts describing the procedure.
Footage and screen recordings shared by the board-certified facial plastic surgeon show that one of four allegedly satisfied customers of the contouring device is actually a patient of Dr. Mike Nayak.
The video was taken six months after her “deep neck lift” with the doctor.
Not only is she a patient of the plastic surgeon’s, she is also staff at his practice.
In the very footage stolen, the patient and staff member is wearing a uniform bearing the plastic surgery practice’s name and logo.
Advertisers cropped the footage so tightly that it left the logo invisible.
“They use my patients to sell magic earrings, jade rollers, magic necklaces, and now this device.
“None of them work—or they wouldn’t need to steal my results.”
The doctor also commented on the ad, evidently no longer running on Instagram.
“You are showing my surgical results and claiming they are from a device.
“Fraud,” the surgeon wrote.
A voiceover on the ad says users can “just wear it at night, and wake up to see the results.”
According to the ad, the “BeautyRest™+ Sleeping V-Face Beauty Device” uses “highly low-voltage electrical currents” to improve facial contour, minimize wrinkles, increase blood flow, reduce edema, and stimulate muscles.
It’s an “innovative solution for those looking for a non-invasive way to improve their facial shape,” the ad proclaims.
The ad was seen more than 5,000 times at the time of Dr. Nayak’s comment calling out the deceptive advertising, which he called fraud.
A link in the ad’s caption directed viewers to YunGuide.com.
YunGuide.com evidently engages in deceptive marketing practices, according to our investigation.
In addition to two counts of stolen surgical results footage alleged by the plastic surgeon whose results they are, are numerous other signs of deception.
By way of example, the “Uranus MAXHematie Beaded Bracelet,” available on the website for $24.97, is credited with stunning 12-week weight loss results.
A reverse-image search on Google reveals that this unknown gentleman has become the unwitting example of everything from a medically-assisted weight loss program, to Keto coffee, weight loss pills, a beaded bracelet, and much more.
The images on many of these websites pre-date YunGuide.com’s existence.
YunGuide.com was registered with ICANN.org on December 23, 2022.
In all, this very image appears on more than 100 websites, each of which we reviewed was using the picture as an example of the results obtainable from a wide variety of very different products.
Website #1:
Website #2
Website #3
Another product available on YunGuide.com is a FolliBoost Hair Regrowth Spray. The same image used by this website to proclaim the results of a hair spray are used by another website to sell custom-made wigs for women with cancer.
YunGuide did not return our request for comment.
Surgeon’s results ripped for earlier frauds
This isn’t the first time the surgeon’s before-and-after images have been stolen for use in false advertising.
In September, the surgeon shared a screen recording of a now-defunct Instagram account touting the benefits of an electrified earring of sorts. An ad for the device usurped the same before-and-after footage of the surgeon’s neck lift patient and staff member.
In February, the surgeon shared images indicating that his neck lift surgery results were being used to advertise and sell a jade roller.
In April 2021, yet another outfit used the surgeon’s before-and-after results photos to advertise and sell a chin brace neck strap.
The doctor endorses none of the products, which he says are fraudulently using the results of his plastic surgery work to sell devices that do not produce the same results.
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