Dalya Karezi: Fake doctor posed in bogus scrubs and with a stethoscope to dole out advice on cancer and women’s health – despite having no medical qualifications and actually working at a BANK

A woman who claimed to be a doctor wearing scrubs and a stethoscope and offering help to patients with ovarian cancer, HIV and fertility problems has admitted she was completely unqualified to give health advice.

Dalya Karezi amassed 243,000 followers on TikTok and 20,000 on Instagram as ‘Dr Karezi’, offering health advice to women and others on a range of serious health issues and ailments between 2019 and 2021.

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

The bank employee falsely presented herself as a doctor while at work as a specialist doctor for NSW Health and NSW cancer Institute.

In emails, she used the titles RMO and VMO, as resident medical officer and visiting medical officer.

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

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

Dalya Karezi amassed 243,000 followers on TikTok and 20,000 on Instagram as ‘Dr Karezi’, offering health advice to women and others on a range of serious health issues and ailments between 2019 and 2021.

Dalya Karezi (photo with fake tag “Dr”) advised millions on TikTok and Instagram about serious diseases like ovarian cancer and HIV

Magistrate Theo Tsavdaridis told the court when sentencing Karez: “In my opinion, these are very serious matters. The inadequacies to be kept out (as a doctor) were wide, prolific and widespread’.

Of her many social media posts, he said: “Some cross the line … (she) offered advice on ovarian cancer, Covid … human babies, uterine fibroids, contraception, overdose of paracetamol (while wearing scrubs) and is seen with a stethoscope around her neck.’

In one image, his Honor said, Karezi had a tag with ‘Dr’ on it and in other posts she claimed to be an expert on ‘sexual health, alcohol and drugs, testosterone, … this was during confinement when people were closed. in their homes.’

As ‘Dr Karezi’, she was hugely popular in the Iraqi and Kurdish communities in western Sydney, of which she is a part and also worked as a lawyer.

She even won awards for her work on a campaign called “Shisha, No Thanks” to discourage the use of water pipes in the Middle East for health reasons.

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

Posing as ‘Dr Karezi’ she was popular on TikTok and Instagram giving health advice to women and claiming to be an obstetrics and gynecology specialist.

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

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

Karez’s barrister, Erasmus Lovell-Jones, said his client had only worked in research roles for NSW Health and the NSW Cancer Council and had since completed a Bachelor of Medical Science and Master of Reproductive Medicine degree.

Mr Lovell-Jones argued she had ‘psychological fragility’ from a traumatic childhood, having spent four years in refugee camps in Iran on her way from Iraq to Australia.

Asking not to be convicted – because it would affect her work with her current employer Commonwealth Bank of Australia – he said in her false application posing as a doctor to work at the Cancer Institute “at no stage she was not putting herself in the position of treating patients.

In the emails, Karezi used the titles RMO and VMO, which stand for resident medical officer and visiting medical officer.

Fake ‘Dr Karezi’ (left) impersonates a medical specialist on TikTok and Instagram, as well as working for NSW Health and the Cancer Council

Dalya Karezi (above, outside Westmead Hospital) 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 trying to repackage health information already available.

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

He added that Karezi is now ‘engaged in rehabilitation’.

The maximum penalty for its offences, increased from 2019, is $60,000 per offence, including possible imprisonment of up to three years.

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