IN SHORT: Be wary of social media posts claiming fig leaves are the answer to multiple health conditions and that users should click on an attached link for more information. This is a scam, most likely aimed at gaining reach.
Subscribers to our WhatsApp lines sent us a link to a Facebook post claiming that fig leaves can help with different health conditions.
The fig tree is a plant in the genus Ficus, native to tropical regions of East Asia.
“If you have fig leaves, you're sitting on Gold – but you probably don't even know it!,” the Facebook post says. It provides no information on the use of fig leaves, prompting users to click on the attached link for more details.
The same claim has been published on public groups with hundreds of thousands to millions of followers. Some of the claims include a link, while others don’t.
Africa Check has debunked many “miracle” cures for various conditions.
But since this claim doesn’t offer much information about the use of fig leaves, what’s going on here? We checked.
Scammers will sometimes bait social media users into clicking on links by leaving out key information that can “be found” in the attached article. Scammers do this to drive traffic to their website, which can be monetised.
This is even more apparent when those websites have an overwhelming amount of pop-up adverts, which may pay the website owner per visit.
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