Almost three weeks after police suspected a well-known South African TikToker of being a scammer, he was taken into custody. The user claimed to be a doctor.
On Sunday night, Matthew Lani tried to enter the Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg but was stopped by security.
The hospital security team turned him over to the police, according to the Gauteng Department of Health.
The department released a statement saying, “Lani was caught just before 8pm disguised in a hoodie and wearing a surgical mask with a stethoscope around his neck.”
It added that Lani “had previously entered the same facility to curate misleading content under the pretence that he was a qualified doctor”.
Lani had built a considerable following on TikTok, where he posted medical content and sold his own brand of pills.
He claimed to have graduated as a doctor from the University of the Witwatersrand, which the university refuted.
He also claimed that his real name was Dr Sanele Zingelwa, but was exposed to have impersonated a medical intern at another facility.
The Health Professions Council of South Africa said that Lani was not a registered health practitioner.
