Earlier this month East Richmond resident Lee Glickstein clicked an online ad claiming to offer a breakthrough cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Within 10 days, that decision would cost him more than $500.
“It’s embarrassing,” Glickstein told Richmondside. “I thought I was un-scammable.”
The advertisement uses AI-generated videos of celebrities including Bill Gates and Samuel L. Jackson to sell dietary supplements that the videos are falsely marketing as treatments that “reverse memory loss” and treat dementia symptoms. Using such images commercially is illegal under right of publicity laws, which in California “prohibit the unauthorized commercial use of a living person’s name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness.”
The videos, posted on Facebook, Google and other websites, direct users to fake news pages resembling CNN or Today. In one iteration, an AI-generated version of Bill Gates talks about his father’s Alzheimer’s disease and claims to have poured millions into the research and development of the supplement. In another, a deepfake of Samuel L. Jackson swears that the product helps him remember his lines.
However, none of those endorsements are real.
The product, MemoPryl, is a dietary supplement that says it boosts brain health. Its website is just a storefront, with no information about who’s developing or manufacturing the product, with its headquarters listed as Aurora, CO. It lists ingredients as a blend of plant-based extracts, vitamins and amino acids such as L-Glutamine and St. John’s Wort, and is distributed by retailers including Amazon, eBay and Walmart.
While it is real — multiple bottles arrived at Glickstein’s house nine days after he ordered them — the fine print on the website makes it clear that it’s not evaluated by the FDA and not “intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease,” despite what the AI endorsements imply. Similar products are being promoted through nearly identical videos under the names Memopezil, Brain Honey, Mind Boost and Brain Vex.
I called the number on MemoPryl’s website and asked for some background about the company. The person that answered went silent for several moments, then texted a link “providing the information you want.” The link led to a web page listing of MemoPryl’s “scientific references,” a collection of 30 journal articles touting the cognitive benefits of the supplement ingredients.
When I asked additional questions about the company’s founder, where the product is made and by whom, they again directed me to the web page.
“Look at the link,” a woman’s voice repeated.
Facebook is most common platform for online scams
About 10% of U.S. adults reported being victimized by a scam in 2025, according to Gallup research, resulting in an estimated loss of $68 billion. According to the Federal Trade Commission, nearly a third of victims lost money to a scam that started on social media, with Facebook being the most common culprit, and more than half lost at least $500.
A more recent Associated Press-NORC survey published in June said, “most Americans are inundated with scam attempts on a daily basis,” with about 3-in-10 saying they’ve lost money or personal information to scams
While there isn’t one place that tracks how many Americans fall for false online marketing claims, the FTC reports that shopping scams were the most-reported type of social media scam in 2025. And older people are particularly at risk, with the AP poll showing that about 7-in-10 U.S. adults ages 60 and older say they are contacted by a suspected scammer at least once a day, compared to about 4-in-10 Americans under 30.
Glickstein, an 82-year-old author who writes about public speaking anxiety, was scanning the Huffington Post when the ad popped up. He watched a 30-minute video touting the positive effects of MemoPryl on brain health, including the claim that the pills could “reverse Alzheimer’s.” What was so effective, Glickstein said, were the endorsements.
“Steve Martin showed up, and this probably got me because I love Steve Martin. He said that last year, he started forgetting his lines,” Glickstein said. “And then he found this, and now he’s able to read his lines.”
The video also featured an AI-generated Bill Gates, saying, “What I’m going to reveal today will change everything you believe about memory loss, dementia, and Alzheimer’s.”
But neither Martin nor Gates have endorsed this product. Glickstein was watching AI deepfakes, fabricated footage cloning the celebrities’ voices and images. Scammers use publicly available video and audio to create deepfakes, often to sell something.
According to Jordan Liles, a reporter at the fact-checking publication Snopes.com, the promise of recipes or “miracle” ingredients at the beginning of a video advertisement is a red flag.
“That is a marketing strategy designed to get you to keep watching their video,” he says in a YouTube video about the MemoPryl scam. “They keep saying, ‘We’re going to reveal a recipe to you with the ingredients in just a few minutes,’ and they never do. It always ends up being supplements at the end of the video.”
In this case, the supposed “miracle” ingredient is honey, which they call a natural cure for dementia, stating that Gates’ foundation has been pouring money into research. In one case, the video is hosted on a fake website “CNN World,” with the headline “In a video, expert in brain health reveals, ‘Evil protein’ is literally killing the memory of 200 million Americans!” complete with fake reviews from customers Liles says are AI-generated.
Alternate versions of the video include testimonies from celebrities including Savannah Guthrie, Chris Hemsworth and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. In a video posted to CNN’s Facebook page, Gupta addresses the fake advertisements and warns users to be wary of AI-generated images.
“If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” Gupta says.
Fake Bill Gates’ endorsement is persuasive to online buyers
Glickstein said he doesn’t usually fall for such ruses. In fact, he doesn’t even have Alzheimer’s. But that’s what’s so concerning. The storytelling sold him something he didn’t need.
“The storytelling about Gates’ father, the logical explanation of what he’s doing, and that he’s not charging anything extra … because of his love of people,” Glickstein said.
Lee Glickstein, Founder of Speaking Circles International
“… the whole idea is that they confuse you, you can’t get a straight story, and you give up.”
Gates really did lose his father to Alzheimer’s in 2020. And he has since invested millions into research for diagnostic tools and treatments. However, he has never endorsed a supplement like MemoPryl nor claimed to have discovered a cure for the disease.
“It was really brilliant,” Glickstein said. “I never knew AI could be that good.”
After watching the video, he purchased six bottles of MemoPryl. On the brand’s official website, a six-pack costs $294. Buyers are further enticed by pop-ups every few seconds which say things like, “Maria from North Carolina just bought three bottles!” Glickstein said he was charged $317 after taxes and fees.
Then, as he was in the process of ordering, there was a glitch. He spoke to someone from the company by phone and said they told him that he had to confirm his order, which he did. Two days later, $317 was deducted from his bank account. But there was an additional $294 charge paid to a company called NutriSystems.
Glicksten called MemoPryl to complain. They apologized, he said, and told him it was a problem with their system. The first shipment had been sent, they said, but they would refund him in full for the second purchase, unless he would be willing to keep the second order of bottles for a 30% discount.
Glickstein declined.
“What about a 50% discount?” they asked.
“No,” he said.
Finally, he said they offered him 70% off the six bottles. He agreed.
Tips for avoiding online scams
- Always consult your doctor before purchasing any supplement or medication.
- Be highly skeptical of videos featuring celebrities or influencers promoting “miracle” health products or investment schemes. Always verify supposed “news stories” on an outlet’s official network rather than trusting social media ads.
- To identify deepfakes, look for unnatural eye movements, poor lip-syncing, or blurry patches around the face. They also may appear superimposed against a generic background.
- Research before buying. Search the product name along with words such as “scam,” “BBB,” or “reviews” to see whether other consumers have reported problems.
- Avoid pressure tactics and marketing ploys such as “last chance to buy” or “limited supplies.” Unexpected duplicate charges, repeated discount offers and confusing customer service interactions are common warning signs.
- Report false advertising and deceptive marketing claims to the Federal Trade Commission. For misleading health or medical claims about dietary supplements, you can also report the product to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the federal government.
In the following days, he became increasingly uneasy about the whole thing. “I started to do the diligence and see that it was a scam … the whole idea is that they confuse you, you can’t get a straight story, and you give up.”
He spent the next week calling MemoPryl. Each person he spoke to claimed to have a record of the $317 charge but said that they were not connected to the company responsible for subsequent charges.
“Then one person kind of spilled the beans and read me out all the information about my orders, so it was very clear that it’s the one place with two names,” Glickstein said.
Glickstein cancelled the credit card that he used for his order and requested a refund. He claims that MemoPryl refunded the cancelled card, so that it wouldn’t go through.
“I think they knew, sending it to the old credit card, it wouldn’t go through,” he said. “So, they’re gonna ask for a new credit card number and I’m not gonna give it to them. So they can have a situation where there’s no way they can return the money, right?”
He describes his interactions with MemoPryl as “a fog of hitting your head against the wall.”
“This is gonna go on and on, I just know it,” Glickstein said.
Similar scam stories have been shared online since October 2025
Similar stories from duped customers have been circulating online since October 2025. According to incidents reported to the Better Business Bureau, “Consumers reportedly said modest purchases sometimes led to continuing charges or unwanted shipments, while cancellation and refund requests were difficult to resolve.”
AARP, a nonprofit organization that advocates for people aged 50 and older, is fighting for the approval of three separate bills in Congress that would protect consumers from online fraud.
The Guard Act (S. 2544/H.R. 2978) would provide funding to state and local law enforcement agencies to hire and train staff and improve resources to investigate and combat fraud. The Tax Relief for Victims of Crimes, Scams, and Disasters Act (S. 1773/H.R. 3469) would ensure victims of crimes, scams, and disasters are not taxed by the IRS on money that was stolen from them. And, the STOP Scams Against Seniors Act (H.R. 6426) would strengthen coordination among federal, state, and local law enforcement to investigate and prosecute scams targeting older adults.
One woman describes clicking on a Facebook post that led her to spend $2,000. “The scam showed Anderson Cooper talking about a new Alzheimer’s treatment that was so simple that all the pharmaceutical companies would be out millions. Then Dr. Gupta came on and detailed this miracle honey and a Bacopa powder that had cured his father and several celebrities,” she writes.
When she reached out after having trouble completing the sale, the company assured her everything was fine and provided a phone number in case she had future concerns. As subsequent charges accumulated on her credit card, she realized something was amiss.
For another Richmond resident, Laura Sutta, the ruse took an emotional toll rather than a financial one. After watching a video featuring Bill Gates, she became excited about a potential cure for her husband’s Alzheimer’s. While attempting to buy the supplements, her credit card was repeatedly declined.
This prompted her to research the product, and she found out it wasn’t what the ads proclaimed it to be.
“I was devastated,” Sutta said.
Glickstein ultimately received three orders of MemoPryl, despite only paying for two. He has returned all 18 bottles to the address listed on their website. His bank confirmed that $317 has been credited to his account, although he is still in the process of securing a refund for the second charge.
“They don’t scam you out of your life savings, so they stay under the radar,” Glickstein said. “You know, I can afford to lose $300. But many elders can’t.”
