Email from Chestnut School Of Herbal Medicine
Catfish, trolls, swindlers, and rapscallions have hit the herbal scene!
I have two cons to bring to your attention, along with how to protect yourself from this skulduggery, but first, let me start at the beginning. A few years ago, I began to notice people impersonating herbal businesses and natural healers. Their modus operandi: pretend to be a reputable healer, build up a following of unsuspecting folks who unknowingly follow the wrong page, and then direct message (DM) their followers with scammy requests for sessions or products.
Over the years, several grifters have tried to impersonate the Chestnut School. But last week, someone brought to my attention a scammer impersonating me with a Facebook page titled 'Dr. Juliet Blankespoor'. Here’s a video on how to protect yourself from these social media scams and how you can help me shut down this fake 'Dr. Blankespoor'.
The second swindle I want to bring to your attention involves herbal and foraging books written by artificial intelligence (AI). These are now all over Amazon. They pose a real danger because no human experts verify the information in the books, so there are gross lapses in safety and identification issues.
The book titles mimic reputable books written by human experts, and the reviews are AI-generated in fake review farms. In my article on the Risks of Using AI in Herbalism, you can learn more about the issues–and how to spot these fakes.
https://chestnutherbs.com/risks-of-using-ai-in-herbalism
https://chestnutherbs.com/our-favorite-herbalism-books
Video on this subject:
Dr. Blankespoor Scam - Catfish, trolls, swindlers, and rapscallions have hit the herbal scene!
Over the years, several grifters have tried to impersonate Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine. But recently, someone brought to our attention a scammer with a fake Facebook page titled 'Dr. Juliet Blankespoor'. Here’s a video on how to protect yourself from social media scams from the REAL Juliet Blankespoor, world renowned herbalist and author, and founder of Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine.
Keep your old hard copy books.
I've collected quite a few oldies! None of them indicate that herbs will do miracles, and all of them admit that preparation is an 'art'. But at least they distinguish between useless and poisonous plants versus those that are safe to consume.
My general impression has always been that they're too mild and slow for today's ailments. But I always remembered the Canadian nurse who cured cancer with her concoction. Named ESSIAC, the nurse's name was Rene Caisse. Remarkable!