We were alerted by one of our correspondents in Washington (state) concerning what is claimed to be a brand new natural solution for dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Today, almost everyone knows someone with one of those horrible maladies. It was not always this way. I remember as a kid and young man that it was relatively rare.
Only one of my grandparents, who died at 76, was beginning to show signs in her later years. None of my aunts or uncles (all deceased) were afflicted with it as some lived into their late 80s and early 90s. I presume that such was the state of most families across the USA at that time.
A quick query generated these current statistics:
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia in the United States, affecting approximately 1 in 9 adults aged 65 and older (about 11.3%), according to the 2023 Alzheimer’s Association Facts & Figures report.
Dementia overall affects nearly 1 in 10 adults over 65 (around 10%), with rates rising sharply with age:
5.3% of people aged 65–74 have Alzheimer’s.
13.8% of people aged 75–84 have Alzheimer’s.
34.6% of people aged 85 and older have Alzheimer’s.
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor to dementia, affects about 22% of adults over 65, increasing the risk of progressing to Alzheimer’s or other dementias.
Just last week at 10:30 a.m., I made an appointment with a local businessman and friend for 1 p.m. when he would be back from lunch that afternoon. I showed up in his office just before 1 p.m., and after he was done with his current appointment he came out into the waiting area, greeted me, and said, “Hi, can I help you?”
He did not call me by name as he had done for the decades I’ve known him. I was taken aback and immediately clear to me that he had no idea I had made the appointment with him. I said, “Jerry” (I am protecting his identity), we have a one o’clock appointment.”
He looked sheepish and led me into his office. He is only in his early 60’s. He apologized by saying how busy he had been, but I could tell he was making an excuse and was clearly embarrassed by his failure to remember—even after I reminded him.
When our friend in Washington sent me this link, he reported that Bruce Willis had been totally cured and his mind and memory restored by this new product. I was eager to take a look.
It was one of those videos that has no scroll bar at the bottom so the viewer can tell how long it is and be able to fast-forward to the end. That was my first hint this was possibly a scam.
Secondly, early on, we saw Anderson Cooper of CNN (that was my second red flag) talking about the disease, and the Bruce Willis story, and then comes Dr. Sanjay Gupta on screen talking about this new all-natural breakthrough.
Dr. Gupta is the chief medical correspondent for CNN and a practicing neurosurgeon. He is an associate professor of neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine and associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.
After a while of watching him, I decided to pause the video and try to find out how long it was. As soon as I clicked on the video to pause it, a “warning” popped up. Elsewhere, the sales pitch includes the “you must act now”-type of warning. To the effect that this product had only a limited first-run and that I might miss my opportunity to get it if I quit watching it now. That was my third big red flag.
As I continued, wondering when they were going to get to the bottom line, I decided to pause it again, and once again, the red warning screen came up. This time I decided to do some searching in another tab concerning the product which Dr. Gupta had said was only available through this video to “cut out the middle man.”
But I found it on Amazon for about 19 bucks per bottle. On the other hand, I knew that some legitimate health products also had their scammer-mimickers on Amazon, and were selling bogus products masquerading as the real thing.
With that in mind, I returned to the video with Dr. G. still telling about the horrors of Alzheimer’s and how this product comes from a very specific honey from Asia, and on and on. I paused the video again.
This time I searched for Bruce Willis-Alzheimer’s and another search for Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as connected with the alleged cure product Neurocept.
Bingo! Spokespersons for Bruce Willis say he is continuing in decline, and has no connection with Neurocept. Ditto with Dr. Gupta and CNN. Further information declares that the Neurocept video is an AI-created “deep fake” video.
In other words, with AI, one can take video clips of anyone, in this case of Bruce Willis and Dr. Gupta and criminals can use AI tools to manipulate his face/body to “say” anything the scriptwriters want him to look like he is saying. The average person cannot tell the difference.
To me, these are abominable mind control techniques, which in my understanding of the Scriptures equals witchcraft. It is obvious that while AI definitely has an upside, that our society had better be very careful. Like atomic energy or TV or computers and other digital devices, they can be used for good or for evil.
This is a very slick production. It has probably fooled thousands already. (Surely, it is a piece of cake for the perpetrators of this fraud to pay for fake testimonials on Amazon and in this video itself, don’t you think?)
From Anderson Cooper to Bruce Willis to Dr. Gupta, they have taken clips of the real persons and put them together to create a totally false report. In some cases, the AI-generated characters above are made to say things they deny ever saying—what evil.
Here is the link to the video. I am guessing it runs anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. I am not going to watch it again just to time it. Don’t fall for this (in my opinion) scam. However, you may want to watch all or part of it just for instruction and education of what to watch for in other types of AI creations/scams.
By the way, when I clicked on the link it took quite a while to come up—perhaps 30 seconds or more.
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