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Low reported severity Media Coverage

Montreal: Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, says AI deepfake ads using his face have sold supplements and cancer cures on Facebook since at least August 2025, and that a scam victim who paid hundreds of dollars for pills that never arrived came to the ICU demanding a refund

Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal, told CBC News (August 2025) and CTV News and CBC News (September 2026) that AI-generated deepfake videos using his likeness keep appearing on Facebook, selling joint supplements, pills and cancer cures and spreading anti-pharmaceutical claims; the latest offers $1 million to dissatisfied customers. He is not on social media and learns of the videos from people who call him. He recounts that a person who paid hundreds of dollars for pills advertised in one of the videos, and never received them, came into the ICU demanding his money back, which he describes as a security problem for the hospital. He has reported the deepfakes to Quebec's College of Physicians, Montreal police and the platforms, but says new videos keep appearing. The makers of the ads are not identified.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
1 August 2025
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Reputational HarmFinancial Loss
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Health · Work · Finance
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account
4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 2 people

AI system as recorded: AI-generated deepfake video ads using Dr. Marquis's face and voice, circulated on Facebook (his account to CBC and CTV); no tool or advertiser is named

What Happened

In August 2025, CBC News reported Quebec physicians' warnings about deepfake videos using their likeness to sell health products. Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal, said he was in disbelief when he learned his image was being used, and that people called him to say he was all over Facebook or to ask whether they could get the drugs. He said a person taken for a few hundred dollars in an online scam had shown up at the hospital demanding his money back, which made it a matter of security for people in the hospital, and he warned that some people may stop their usual medication to take a fake drug.

In September 2026 he told CTV News that he is not on social media and learns of the AI-generated deepfakes from people who call him. The videos show him talking about joint pain and selling supplements and, in others, peddling cancer cures and anti-pharmaceutical propaganda. He described a man who ended up "barging in the ICU" because he wanted his money back for drugs he never received. CBC News (18 September 2026) reports that patients and colleagues keep telling him about Facebook videos featuring his likeness, that the latest AI-generated ad sells a joint remedy and offers $1 million to dissatisfied customers, and that a scam victim who invested hundreds of dollars in pills never delivered came looking for him in the ICU.

He has reported the deepfakes to Quebec's College of Physicians, Montreal police and the platforms, but says new videos appear before old ones are removed. The sources do not identify who made the ads or how many people bought from them.

Reported harm

Dr. Marquis says AI deepfake ads falsely show him selling supplements and cures and spreading anti-pharmaceutical claims, and that one person lost hundreds of dollars on pills that never arrived and confronted him in the ICU (his account to CBC and CTV).

Outcome

Ongoing

Dr. Marquis has reported the deepfakes to the Collège des médecins du Québec, Montreal police and social media platforms; he says he was told there is nothing they can really do (CBC News, 18 September 2026), and no action on the reports is published. Reported by CBC News (1 August 2025) and by CTV News and CBC News (18 September 2026).

What remains unknown

  • Who made and paid for the ads, which AI tool was used, and how many videos exist.
  • Whether the ICU visit described in 2025 and in 2026 is the same event, and how many people bought products from the ads.
  • Whether Meta removed any of the reported ads, and the outcome of the police and medical-college reports.
  • When the first deepfake appeared (before August 2025).

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Dr. Marquis describes the videos as AI-generated deepfakes using his likeness (CTV News 2026; CBC 2025 and 2026), and CBC calls the latest one an AI-generated ad. No inspected source names the tool, the advertiser or who made the videos, and the doctor says he is not on social media and learns of the videos from people who call him.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Montreal's Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, says AI-generated deepfake videos using his likeness have circulated on Facebook since at least August 2025, selling joint supplements, pills and cancer cures and spreading anti-pharmaceutical claims; he learns of them from people who call him because he is not on social media.

Causal attribution. The doctor's own account in three interviews (CBC 2025, CTV and CBC 2026); no inspected source reproduces or analyses a video.

  • ctvnews.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'he said there has been a proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) generated deepfakes on people’s social media feeds.'; 'It’s all people calling me and telling me there’s some deepfakes, you know, running around.'; 'he’s talking about joint pain and selling supplements. But more seriously, he said he’s seen videos where he is peddling cures for cancer and anti-pharmaceutical propaganda.'
  • cbc.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Marquis said he was in disbelief when he first learned his image was being used in a deepfake video.'; 'He received phone calls from people saying "you're all over Facebook,"'
  • ca.news.yahoo.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'said he's heard from multiple patients and colleagues that videos featuring his likeness — all selling a range of pills or products — keep popping up on Facebook.'; 'referring to the latest AI-generated ad.'
Reported A person who paid hundreds of dollars for pills advertised in one of the deepfakes, and never received them, came to the hospital and into the ICU demanding his money back from Dr. Marquis.

Causal attribution. Recounted by Dr. Marquis in each interview; the person is not identified and did not speak to the outlets. The three accounts appear to describe the same visit, but no source confirms that.

  • ctvnews.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'This poor man actually ended up, you know, barging in the ICU and he wanted his money back because he never received the drugs,'
  • cbc.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'after a person who was taken for a few hundred dollars in an online scam showed up at the hospital demanding his money back.'
  • ca.news.yahoo.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Marquis recalled a victim of one deepfake scam who came looking for him in the ICU, wanting his money back for pills that were never delivered.'; 'that person invested hundreds of dollars in those pills and never received anything,'
Reported Dr. Marquis has reported the deepfakes to the Collège des médecins du Québec, Montreal police and social media platforms, but says new videos keep appearing and there is little he can do to stop them.

Causal attribution. The doctor's account; he says he was told 'there's nothing they can really do', and no statement from the platforms, police or the college is reported.

  • ctvnews.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'has reported the deepfakes to Quebec’s College of Physicians and Montreal police, but he said there is little else he can do to make these videos stop, except speaking out about them.'
  • ca.news.yahoo.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'he routinely struggles to get deepfake videos taken down before new ones pop back up — even though he's flagged them to social media platforms, Quebec's medical college and the police.'
  • ca.news.yahoo.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Basically I was told that there's nothing they can really do,'
Reported He says the visit by the scam victim raised a security concern for people in the hospital, and that some people may stop their usual medication for fake drugs.

Causal attribution. The doctor's stated concern; no patient who stopped treatment because of these videos is described.

  • cbc.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'now it's about the security of the people in the hospital,'; 'The other problem is that some people will actually stop taking their usual medication to take this fake drug,'

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read on 2026-10-01 from the live CTV News page (18 September 2026); article text from the page JSON-LD articleBody. Interview with Dr. Marquis. Applies to s1.

Read on 2026-10-01 from the live CBC News page (1 August 2025, updated 4 August 2025). Interview with Dr. Marquis and another Quebec physician. Applies to s2.

Read on 2026-10-01 from the Yahoo News Canada copy of a CBC News feature (18 September 2026). Interview with Dr. Marquis and other physicians. Applies to s3.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Canada. Court countries: Unknown.

Dr. Marquis is chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal, where the scam victim confronted him (CTV, CBC). The ads circulate on Facebook and their origin is not stated, so the event country is left unknown.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-01: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): a named Montreal ICU chief, a public figure speaking on record to CBC and CTV, says AI deepfake ads using his likeness have sold supplements and cures on Facebook since at least August 2025, and that a scam victim who paid hundreds of dollars for undelivered pills confronted him in the ICU. The account rests on his own interviews; the ads' makers are unknown. The scam victim is not identified.

People described

Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montreal (a public figure speaking on record), and an unidentified person who paid for pills advertised in one of the deepfakes

People reported harmed in this case

At least 2 people

0 AI participants · 2 other people harmed

Dr. Marquis, whose likeness is used, and one person who paid hundreds of dollars for undelivered pills and came to the ICU (counted once; the 2025 and 2026 accounts appear to describe the same visit). The doctor says other people lose money but gives no number. Documented minimum 2.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#deepfake#doctor-impersonation#health-scam#facebook-ads#montreal#quebec

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Montreal: Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, says AI deepfake ads using his face have sold supplements and cancer cures on Facebook since at least August 2025, and that a scam victim who paid hundreds of dollars for pills that never arrived came to the ICU demanding a refund. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-montreal-icu-chief-francois-marquis-ai-deepfake-ads-scam-victim-icu

BibTeX

@misc{2025_montreal_icu_chief_francois_marquis_ai_deepfake_ads_scam_victim_icu,
  title = {Montreal: Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, says AI deepfake ads using his face have sold supplements and cancer cures on Facebook since at least August 2025, and that a scam victim who paid hundreds of dollars for pills that never arrived came to the ICU demanding a refund},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-montreal-icu-chief-francois-marquis-ai-deepfake-ads-scam-victim-icu}
}

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