TV presenter Bettina Tietjen warns on Facebook in September 2026 that fake videos, described by outlets as AI deepfakes, show her advertising a remedy for Alzheimer's, and says scammers are behind them
Bettina Tietjen, host of the 'NDR Talk Show', wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday 29 September 2026 that videos were apparently circulating in which she advertised a remedy for Alzheimer's. 'Das sind Fake-Videos, dahinter stecken Betrüger', she wrote, asking people not to fall for them. The spot on news agency (via Abendzeitung München) reports that she has nothing to do with the advertised product. MOPO describes the clips as fake AI videos, and spot on news and TAG24 say they are apparently deepfakes made or altered with artificial intelligence. No report says whether anyone bought the product, and no complaint or takedown is reported.
- AI system
- Unidentified video tool (suspected)
- Occurred
- Sept 2026
- Reported
- 29 September 2026
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Depicted or impersonated the person
- Reported harm
- Reputational Harm
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Work · Health
- Evidence
- AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 1 underlying account
- 3 claims: 3 reported. 4 open questions
- People reported harmed
- 1 person
AI system as recorded: Fake videos in which the presenter appears to advertise an Alzheimer's remedy, described by MOPO as AI videos and by spot on news and TAG24 as apparent deepfakes; the tool and operators are not identified
What Happened
According to the spot on news agency (published by Abendzeitung München, 30 September 2026), Tietjen urgently warned her fans about fake clips in which she appears to advertise a remedy for Alzheimer's. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, written entirely in capitals, she stated: 'Das sind Fake-Videos, dahinter stecken Betrüger', and asked: 'Bitte auf keinen Fall darauf hereinfallen!' The agency says the videos are presumably deepfakes and that she has nothing to do with the advertised preparation. TAG24 (30 September 2026) quotes her post as 'Offenbar sind Videos von mir in Umlauf, in denen ich für Mittel gegen Alzheimer werbe' and says the videos create the false impression that she recommends the medicine; it describes them as apparently deepfakes made or heavily altered with AI. MOPO writes that she became a victim of fake AI videos and that a video of her advertising an Alzheimer's remedy is circulating on social media, which she told her Facebook followers was faked. The outlets also mention fake images of her circulated in early 2024, a separate earlier episode not covered by this case.
Reported harm
Fake videos showed the presenter endorsing an Alzheimer's remedy she has nothing to do with, and she had to warn the public that scammers were behind them (her Facebook post, relayed by spot on news, TAG24 and MOPO).
Outcome
UnknownTietjen warned her followers in a Facebook post on 29 September 2026; spot on news, MOPO, TAG24 and the Hamburger Abendblatt reported it on 29 and 30 September 2026. No police complaint, platform takedown, seller or buyer loss is reported.
What remains unknown
- On which platforms the videos ran and how widely they were seen.
- Whether anyone bought the advertised product or lost money.
- Whether a complaint or takedown followed.
- Which tool was used.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: suspected. MOPO states that she became a victim of fake AI videos ('gefälschten KI-Videos'); spot on news ('wohl um sogenannte Deepfakes') and TAG24 ('offenbar um sogenannte Deepfakes') hedge the AI attribution. Her quoted Facebook words call them fake videos without mentioning AI. The videos were not inspected and no tool is named. The videos depicted her (depicted_or_impersonated).
3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported In a Facebook post on Tuesday 29 September 2026, Tietjen said that fake videos in which she appears to advertise a remedy for Alzheimer's were circulating, that scammers were behind them, and asked people not to fall for them.
Causal attribution. Her own account as relayed by the outlets; the videos were not inspected.
- abendzeitung-muenchen.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
'In den Clips scheint die Moderatorin für ein Mittel gegen Alzheimer zu werben. "Das sind Fake-Videos, dahinter stecken Betrüger", stellte Tietjen am Dienstag in einem Facebook-Beitrag klar'
- tag24.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
'"Offenbar sind Videos von mir in Umlauf, in denen ich für Mittel gegen Alzheimer werbe", schreibt die "NDR Talk Show"-Gastgeberin in einem Beitrag auf Facebook.'
- abendzeitung-muenchen.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
'Ihre Bitte an alle, denen die Aufnahmen begegnen: "Bitte auf keinen Fall darauf hereinfallen!"'
Reported The outlets describe the videos as made with AI: MOPO says she became a victim of fake AI videos, while spot on news and TAG24 say they are apparently deepfakes.
Causal attribution. The outlets' characterisation; her quoted words do not mention AI.
- mopo.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
'Tietjen wurde Opfer von gefälschten KI-Videos, sogenannten „Deepfakes“.'
- tag24.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
'Bei den Videos handelt es sich offenbar um sogenannte Deepfakes, also täuschend echte Inhalte, die mithilfe Künstlicher Intelligenz erstellt oder stark verändert wurden.'
- abendzeitung-muenchen.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
'Bei den Videos handelt es sich wohl um sogenannte Deepfakes.'
Reported According to spot on news, she has nothing to do with the advertised product.
Causal attribution. Reported in indirect speech by the agency.
- abendzeitung-muenchen.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
'Mit dem beworbenen Präparat habe Tietjen nichts zu tun.'
Sources
3 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- Abendzeitung München (spot on news), 30 September 2026: Bettina Tietjen warnt vor gefälschten Werbevideos mit ihrem Gesicht(opens in new tab)
s1 · abendzeitung-muenchen.de · News report · German · Inspected · 30 September 2026 · Shares an underlying account with another listed source · Primary
- TAG24, 30 September 2026: TV-Moderatorin warnt vor Fake-Videos: Kriminelle missbrauchen ihr Gesicht(opens in new tab)
s2 · tag24.de · News report · German · Inspected · Shares an underlying account with another listed source
- MOPO, 30 September 2026: Bettina Tietjen warnt vor perfiden KI-Videos(opens in new tab)
s3 · mopo.de · News report · German · Inspected · Shares an underlying account with another listed source
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read live in German on 2026-10-01 (Abendzeitung München, 30 September 2026; automated spot on news agency copy, also carried by viply and trendmagazin). Relays her Facebook post. Researcher translation. Applies to s1.
Read live in German on 2026-10-01 (TAG24, 30 September 2026); quotes the same Facebook post. Researcher translation. Applies to s2.
Read live in German on 2026-10-01 (MOPO, 30 September 2026); paraphrases the same Facebook post. Researcher translation. Applies to s3.
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.
The bodies say the videos circulated on social networks and give Hamburg datelines (TAG24; Hamburger Abendblatt), but none states where the videos were shown or where she lives; no country is inferred from datelines, the outlets or the language.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-01: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a core case: fake videos depicted the presenter advertising an Alzheimer's remedy, and she warned the public in her own Facebook post. She is a public figure and is named as all sources do. One underlying account (her post) relayed by three outlets; the AI element rests on their description, two of them hedged.
People described
Bettina Tietjen, television presenter and host of the 'NDR Talk Show' (public figure speaking publicly about her own case)
People reported harmed in this case
1 person
0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed
One person, Bettina Tietjen (spot on news via Abendzeitung München; TAG24; MOPO). Viewers are not counted because no source reports anyone deceived. Exact 1.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Tags
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). TV presenter Bettina Tietjen warns on Facebook in September 2026 that fake videos, described by outlets as AI deepfakes, show her advertising a remedy for Alzheimer's, and says scammers are behind them. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-presenter-bettina-tietjen-deepfake-videos-advertise-alzheimer-remedy
BibTeX
@misc{2026_presenter_bettina_tietjen_deepfake_videos_advertise_alzheimer_remedy,
title = {TV presenter Bettina Tietjen warns on Facebook in September 2026 that fake videos, described by outlets as AI deepfakes, show her advertising a remedy for Alzheimer's, and says scammers are behind them},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-presenter-bettina-tietjen-deepfake-videos-advertise-alzheimer-remedy}
} Related cases
Actor Tony Ramos's interview on Ana Maria Braga's 'Mais Você' is digitally altered and redubbed into a fake advertisement for a prostate remedy, reported as made with AI; Terra reported his team's warning in December 2023 and he recounted it on 'Roda Viva' in September 2026
Terra reported on 6 December 2023 that the team of the actor Tony Ramos, then appearing in the telenovela 'Terra e Paixão', had warned that an interview he gave to Ana Maria Braga's programme 'Mais Você' was digitally altered to promote a supposedly miraculous remedy for prostate hyperplasia. According to the team, his words were edited with advanced technology to make it seem he endorsed the product, his voice was redubbed, and the original footage was a tribute to fellow professionals. Terra describes the clips as fake videos created with artificial intelligence. On the TV programme 'Roda Viva' on 28 September 2026, Ramos said his image had been stolen from that interview, badly dubbed and made to sell a prostate medicine (Estado de Minas, 29 September 2026), and Estado de Minas describes the clip as a deepfake that circulated on social networks. No buyer losses, complaint or takedown are reported.
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.
Honduras: Criterio.hn's fact-check desk finds three Facebook videos altered with AI in which plastic surgeon Emec Cherenfant appears to promote a home remedy for prostatitis; he says scammers keep using his name and image
El Mirón, the verification section of Criterio.hn, reported on 30 September 2026 that it found three videos on a Facebook profile, altered in image and audio, that use the image of the plastic and reconstructive surgeon Emec Cherenfant to offer a remedy for prostatitis and related problems. In the videos his artificial image says he helped former footballers beat prostatitis without surgery and invites viewers to write to him on WhatsApp. El Mirón says the manipulation is evident from the vocabulary, voice and body movements and that the detector ZeroGPT flagged the videos as AI-made. The hospital where he offers his services told El Mirón the advertising is deceptive. Cherenfant said he has nothing to do with prostate treatment, that scammers repeatedly use his name and image, and that he filed a complaint with the Ministerio Público two years ago. 'Son estafadores. No se dejen engañar, es pura inteligencia artificial', he said. No buyer losses are reported.
Washington trooper alleges AI video was circulated as workplace harassment
A Washington State Patrol trooper's attorney told FOX 13 that coworkers circulated a deepfake AI video falsely depicting the trooper in an intimate interaction with another coworker. The attorney described the video as harassment based on sexual orientation. The agency said it valued employees' dignity and declined to comment on pending litigation. The video's first date, creator and circulation extent are unknown; earlier job and disciplinary allegations are separate.
If you or someone you know is struggling, free and confidential support is available. Find a helpline near you at Signpost.