Please Don’t Get Scammed By Fake Hormone “Alternatives” Online

At least one grifter is targeting trans people with ineffective and potentially dangerous supplements.
SAMANTHA RIEDEL
JUNE 08, 2023

It may be Pride Month, but scammers and grifters have no pride or shame, and they don’t stop just because it’s June. So please, don’t take herbal supplements that a random person on the internet told you are just like hormone therapy.

On Tuesday, a Twitter-"verified" brand account calling itself “QueerQuirk” began boldly advertising an “estrogen alternative” available with no prescription called “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Estrogen!” under the sub-brand “EstroLabs.”

“We're officially the 🔌 to get HRT style pills without a doctor's note,” an announcement post claimed, beckoning transgender readers to a Shopify landing page.

Backlash to the post was swift and brutal, as trans folks pilloried the brand for apparently trying to scam vulnerable, desperate trans people who can’t access hormones. As of Thursday, the post had garnered over 1,200 quote retweets, the vast majority warning others not to get scammed or put their health at risk. But the brand seems to be trying to post through it all, uploading a video Wednesday evening that features two “before” and “after” photos to imply (but not directly claim) their “alternative” hormones really work.

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A Sketchy Website Advertised Fake Hormone Pills to Trans People. Then, It Disappeared
Fake sites are using social media to target the LGBTQ community as more states ban gender-affirming healthcare.
By Chloe Xiang
June 14, 2023, 12:55pm

Last week, a verified Twitter account went viral after advertising fake hormone pills in a scam that specifically targeted some of the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQ community—before the website selling them disappeared from the internet.

The account named “QueerQuirk” began advertising a product called “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Estrogen,” which turned out to be a supplement that has no proven effect on raising estrogen levels and has been shown to instead raise testosterone levels. The tweet led to enormous backlash online, with many pointing out that the “company” seemed to be a scam targeting trans people by either collecting their data or selling them harmful products, or simply taking their money for pills that don't exist.

We're officially the 🔌 to get HRT style pills without a doctor's note,” read a tweet promoting the product. The link attached to the tweet led to a product page on a different site called EstroLabs, which showed that the pills were essentially Ashwagandha supplements being sold for $44.95 per bottle. Ashwagandha is a shrub that is commonly used for stress relief and has not been approved for Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).

“If Mother Nature had a gender transitioning assistant, it would be Ashwagandha,” the sketchy product’s description read. In the customer reviews section, there appeared to be a fake testimonial that included an image stolen from a Reddit user.

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