A woman who posed as a doctor, wore a scrubs and a stethoscope and offered help to patients with ovarian cancer, HIV and fertility problems, admitted she was absolutely unhelpful. not qualified to give health advice.

Dalya Karezi has amassed 243,000 followers on TikTok and 20,000 on Instagram under the name “Dr. Karezi”, offering health advice to women and others on a wide variety of health issues and serious illnesses between 2019 and 2021.

The 30-year-old woman claimed to have a doctorate degree ‘MBBS’ and wrote the letters after her name. She claimed to be an expert in women’s health practices in obstetrics and gynecology.

The bank employee also falsely represented herself as a doctor while working as a specialist doctor New South Wales Health and New South Wales Cancer Institute.

In her emails, she used the titles RMO and VMO, meaning resident physician and visiting physician.

Her TikTok videos and Instagram posts, which carried the hashtag #doctor and included images of her wearing scrubs, have since been deleted, and she has also promoted face masks online.

But on Wednesday she pleaded guilty to impersonating a doctor and impersonating a medical specialist at Sydney’s Downing Center Court.

Dalya Karezi (pictured with a fake ‘Dr’ badge) has advised millions of people on TikTok and Instagram about serious illnesses such as ovarian cancer and HIV.

Magistrate Theo Tsavdaridis told the court when sentencing Karezi: “In my opinion these are quite serious cases. The irregularities committed while presenting oneself (as a doctor) were extensive, prolific and pervasive.

About her multiple social media posts, he said: “Some have transcended boundaries… (she) has offered advice on ovarian cancer, Covid… for toddlers, for uterine fibroids , contraception, paracetamol overdoses (while) wearing scrubs and seen with a stethoscope around the neck.

In one image, Her Honor said, Karezi was wearing a badge with “Dr” on it and in other posts she claimed to be an expert in “sexual health, alcohol and drugs, testosterone, … this was during lockdown , when people were confined. at their home.

As “Dr Karezi”, she was extremely popular in the Iraqi and Kurdish communities in western Sydney, of which she is a member and also worked as an advocate.

She even won awards for her work in a campaign called “Shisha, No Thanks” aimed at discouraging the use of Middle Eastern water pipes for health reasons.

Fake doctor Dalya Karezi (right) leaves Downing Center Court where she pleaded guilty to impersonating a doctor and impersonating a specialist doctor

Posing as “Dr. Karezi”, she was popular on TikTok and Instagram, giving health advice to women and claiming to be a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology.

Karezi’s guilty plea also follows a prosecution by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulatory Agency (AHPRA), where she pleaded guilty to the offenses of impersonating a health professional and using a name or title when this was not authorized.

These offenses relate to 21 emails sent by Karezi between July 2019 and April 2021 in which she indicated that she was licensed or qualified to practice medicine – even though she had has never been registered with the Medical Board of Australia.

Karezi’s lawyer, Erasmus Lovell-Jones, said his client had only worked in research positions for NSW Health and the NSW Cancer Council and had since completed a Bachelor of Medical Science and a Master of Medicine from the reproduction.

Mr Lovell-Jones argued she suffered from “psychological fragility” due to a traumatic childhood, having spent four years in refugee camps in Iran, while traveling from Iraq to ‘Australia.

Asking for no conviction – because it would affect her employment with her current employer, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia – he said in her false application posing as a doctor to work at the Cancer Institute “at no time did she put herself in the position of to treat”. the patients’.

In his emails, Karezi used the titles RMO and VMO, meaning resident doctor and visiting doctor.

Fake ‘Dr Karezi’ (left) poses as a specialist doctor on TikTok and Instagram, and also works for NSW Health and the Cancer Council.

Dalya Karezi (above, outside Westmead Hospital) was never registered as a doctor and pleaded guilty to falsifying her status.

He said of her fake posts on TikTok and Instagram, including posing in fake medical scrubs: “She was working to repackage health information that was already available.

“There was an element of self-promotion. Totally inappropriate, but she was in her 20s and suddenly gaining attention on social media.

He added that Karezi is now “committed to rehabilitation”.

The maximum penalty for his offenses, increased since 2019, is $60,000 per offense, including imprisonment of up to three years.

However, Magistrate Tsavdaridis sentenced Karezi to a two-year community corrections order and fined him $13,300.