How to protect people who come to wellness groups at fragile moments

Key takeaways

• People 60 and older reported $7.7 billion in fraud losses to the FBI in 2025, up 59% in a year, so a firm “no money requests” rule protects real people.
• Studies of yoga students and Instagram users found high scores on an orthorexia screening test, so constant “clean eating” talk deserves care.
• About 70% of pregnant women in the U.S. take a supplement, and many botanical ingredients in prenatal products have not been well studied in pregnancy.
• If a member mentions suicide, reach out privately and fast, share 988 (call, text or chat, 24/7), and never post details about methods.
• A one-page safeguarding policy, a pinned referral list and at least two trained moderators cover most of what a small group needs.

In 2025, Americans age 60 and older filed 201,266 complaints with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. They reported losing $7.7 billion, up 59% from the year before¹.

The average loss was $38,500, and more than 12,000 people lost over $100,000 each¹.

Those losses came from every kind of scam, not from wellness groups. But they point to something every health community should take seriously. Harm lands hardest on people who are already carrying something heavy.

Wellness groups attract people at exactly those moments: a new cancer diagnosis, a first pregnancy, a death in the family.

They also draw a teenager trying to fix how she feels about her body, or a widower handling money alone for the first time.

Most groups respond with kindness and nothing more. Kindness matters, but it won’t stop a scammer in the comments or a fasting tip that reaches someone with an eating disorder. This guide covers the specific risks, what a responsible group does about each one, and a policy you can adopt this week.

Five kinds of members who need extra care

Each of these groups brings a different risk. Knowing which is which keeps your response specific instead of vague.

• People with serious illness. They are often searching hard for options. The U.S. Surgeon General’s 2021 advisory on health misinformation warned that false claims have made some people less willing to seek effective treatment for cancer, heart disease and other conditions⁵.
• People with eating disorders, or close to one. Constant talk of pure food, cleanses and weight can feed an illness that hides behind healthy habits.
• Pregnant members. What is safe for one adult may not be safe for a developing baby.
• Teens. Many land in adult spaces without saying their age.
• Older adults managing money alone. They are frequent fraud targets.

A sixth risk cuts across all of them: a member in crisis who mentions suicide. That one needs a plan before it happens.

The goal is protection, not gatekeeping. You are not screening people out; you are making the group a place where someone at a hard moment is less likely to be hurt.

Older members: the money risk is bigger than most groups realize

The FBI’s 2025 report shows where the money went. For people 60 and older, investment fraud led losses at $3.52 billion. Tech support scams followed at $1.04 billion, and romance or “confidence” scams at $584 million¹.

Romance-scam losses in that age group rose from about $389 million in 2024¹. Older complainants also reported $257 million lost through cryptocurrency ATMs¹.

Fraud by strangers is only part of the picture. The Justice Department estimates that more than 10% of Americans 65 and older experience some form of elder abuse each year. It can come from family, friends, neighbors, professionals or strangers⁴.

A group can’t stop every scam, but it can make itself a poor hunting ground. Picture a hypothetical online group where a friendly new member starts messaging an older widow privately about a “health-tech investment.” Most group rules say nothing that forbids it.

Rules that close that door:

• No requests for money, loans, donations or investments, in posts or in private messages.
• No pitches for cryptocurrency, “opportunities” or business partnerships.
• A pinned note asking members to report anyone who asks them for money privately.
• Moderators who remove violators quickly and warn the group without naming the person targeted.

If a member has already been scammed, speed matters. The FBI advises contacting the bank right away and, for wire transfers, asking for a recall².

The National Elder Fraud Hotline, 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311), helps older victims report fraud. It is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern²³. For abuse or exploitation by someone close, Adult Protective Services takes reports, and the Eldercare Locator (1-800-677-1116) connects people with local help³.

“Clean eating” talk can feed an eating disorder

Orthorexia describes an unhealthy fixation on eating only pure or healthy food. It is not an official diagnosis in the DSM-5, the main manual psychiatrists use⁶. Still, researchers keep finding signs of it in wellness spaces.

A 2014 pilot study surveyed 136 people from an ashtanga yoga community. About 86% scored in the orthorexia range on a common screening questionnaire called the ORTO-15⁷. The authors suggested that yoga teachers avoid putting heavy emphasis on healthy diets⁷.

A 2017 study surveyed 680 women about their social media habits. The more time a woman spent on Instagram, the more orthorexia symptoms she tended to report, although the connection was weak⁶. Using the test’s stricter cutoff, 49% scored in the orthorexia range. The general-population estimate the authors cited is below 1%⁶.

A gap that wide suggests the questionnaire flags plenty of people who simply eat with care. Neither sample was random, either. In the Instagram study, 83% of participants were recruited through a researcher’s own account⁶. Treat these numbers as a warning light, not a head count.

The warning is consistent, though. What groups can do without banning food talk:

• Skip calorie counts, weights, clothing sizes and before-and-after body photos.
• Drop “clean” and “dirty,” “good” and “bad” as labels for food.
• Add a content note at the top of posts about fasting or cleanses.
• Notice members who describe fear around food, rigid rules or fast weight loss, and reach out privately.

The National Alliance for Eating Disorders runs a free helpline staffed by licensed therapists who specialize in eating disorders. Call (866) 662-1235, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern⁸.

The National Eating Disorders Association’s helpline closed in 2023, so update any old resource lists⁸. For a crisis at any hour, use 988¹³.

Pregnancy: a natural product can still be untested

Supplements are common in pregnancy: about 70% of pregnant women in the U.S. take at least one, according to national survey data reviewed by the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements⁹.

Some have strong support. Folic acid taken before and in early pregnancy lowers the risk of neural tube defects, which are serious birth defects of the brain and spine⁹. But the same NIH office notes that many botanical ingredients added to prenatal products have not been thoroughly studied in pregnant women⁹.

Dose matters, too. Too much preformed vitamin A (retinol and related forms) can cause birth defects of the eyes, skull, lungs and heart¹⁰. Experts advise pregnant women to take no more than 3,000 micrograms RAE (10,000 IU) a day from supplements¹⁰. Beta-carotene, the plant form, is not known to carry that risk¹⁰.

Some gaps run the other way. Not every prenatal supplement contains iodine, and people who eat vegan or skip iodized salt are at higher risk of getting too little⁹.

A good group norm: share experiences freely, but send dosing and herb questions to the member’s midwife, OB or prenatal clinician. A member who writes “Is this tea safe for my nausea?” is better served by “Great question for your midwife” than by twenty opinions.

Teens are in your group, whether you planned for it or not

Up to 95% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 use social media. More than a third say they are on it almost constantly, according to the Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory¹¹.

In one study of 6,595 U.S. adolescents, those who spent more than three hours a day on social media had double the risk of poor mental health outcomes, including symptoms of depression and anxiety¹¹. And 46% of teens said social media makes them feel worse about their bodies¹¹.

Teens find adult wellness groups through search, friends and suggested posts. A group that talks about fasting, weight loss or supplements can reach them without anyone noticing.

What helps:

• State an age rule in the group description, and remove accounts that say they are under it.
• Forbid private messages between adult members and anyone who says they are a minor.
• Keep sales pitches for weight-loss products and “detox” programs out of the group.
• In parent groups, build shared norms together, as the advisory urges parents to do¹¹.

If you suspect a child is being harmed

Each state decides who must report suspected child abuse or neglect. A federal summary of state laws, current through August 2015, found that about 28 states plus Guam named clergy as mandated reporters. About 18 states plus Puerto Rico required any person who suspects abuse to report it¹⁴. Those counts are a decade old and laws change, so check your state’s current rules.

Anyone can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453, by phone or text, 24 hours a day¹⁵. Counselors offer crisis help and referrals. If a child is in danger right now, call 911¹⁵.

When a member mentions suicide

Any group that talks about health will eventually see a post from someone who is thinking about ending their life. The first hour matters, and the response should not be improvised.

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential and open around the clock by call, text or chat¹³. You can contact it for yourself or for someone you are worried about¹³. Text and chat are available in Spanish¹³.

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention publishes safe messaging guidance and summarizes it in its 2026 Suicide Prevention Month toolkit¹². Here is how its advice translates to a group’s posts and comments:

• Keep harmful detail out. Remove any mention of method or place, and any personal details that could invite copying.
• Watch the framing. Posts shouldn’t make suicide sound normal, acceptable or romantic, or pin it on a single simple cause.
• Point to help and hope. Say that help exists, give one concrete step such as 988, and favor stories about coping and recovery, told in non-stigmatizing words such as “died by suicide.”
• Check reposts, too. Anything shared from another page gets the same review before it goes up¹².

A moderator script (adapt it to your voice):

1. Reply privately within minutes if you can: “I saw your post, and I’m glad you said something. Are you safe right now?”
2. Share 988 directly: “You can call or text 988 any time. Would you be willing to reach out now? I’ll stay here while you do.”
3. If they describe a plan or immediate danger and you know where they are, call 911.
4. In the public thread, post a short, warm note with 988. Hide replies that mention methods or argue.
5. Debrief with another moderator. This is heavy work, and nobody should carry it alone.

A one-page safeguarding policy you can adopt this week

Safeguarding means the steps a group takes ahead of time to keep people from harm. This checklist is ours, built from the official guidance above. Copy it, trim it and post it.

Rules members see

• We share experience, not medical advice. No one here diagnoses, sets doses or tells anyone to stop a prescribed treatment.
• No requests for money, investments or donations, in posts or messages.
• No selling without moderator approval, and every seller says so up front.
• No body measurements, weights or before-and-after photos.
• Posts about fasting, cleanses, self-harm or suicide start with a content note.
• Members must be 18 or older (or set your own age rule).

Systems moderators keep

• At least two trained moderators, so no one handles a crisis alone.
• A pinned referral list, checked twice a year for changed numbers.
• A private way for members to report a problem.
• Written steps for suicide mentions, scams and suspected child abuse.
• A private log of serious incidents and how they were handled.
• A rule that moderators never take money from members.

Habits everyone can practice

• When someone shares a frightening diagnosis, ask what their care team said before offering options.
• When you recommend a product, say whether you sell it.
• When someone goes quiet after a hard post, check in.

Where to send people: a referral table

Pin this, with your own local additions.

If a member is…	Point them to	How to reach it
In crisis or thinking about suicide	988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline	Call, text or chat 988, 24/713
In immediate danger	Emergency services	Call 911315
Struggling with food or body image	National Alliance for Eating Disorders	(866) 662-1235, weekdays 9–7 ET8
An older adult who lost money to fraud	National Elder Fraud Hotline and FBI IC3	1-833-372-8311, weekdays 10–6 ET; ic3.gov2
An older adult exploited by someone close	Adult Protective Services or Eldercare Locator	napsa-now.org; 1-800-677-11163
A child who may be abused	Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline	1-800-422-4453, call or text, 24/715
Pregnant and asking about herbs or doses	Their midwife, OB or prenatal clinician	Bring the product label to the next visit9

What the evidence supports, and where it runs thin

Claim	Evidence level	Why
Folic acid before and in early pregnancy lowers neural tube defect risk	Strong evidence	Long-standing research summarized by NIH9
Botanical ingredients in prenatal products are safe	Not enough evidence	Many have not been well studied in pregnancy9
High-dose preformed vitamin A is safe in pregnancy	Evidence says no, or unsafe	Intakes above the upper limit can cause birth defects10
Heavy social media use harms teen mental health	Promising but early	Large observational studies show higher risk; cause and effect is harder to prove11
Wellness culture causes orthorexia	Not enough evidence	Small, self-selected samples and a rough screening tool67
Group safeguarding policies prevent harm	Not enough evidence	Little direct research; the steps here borrow from official guidance in each area

That last row deserves honesty. No one has run a trial on safeguarding rules in wellness groups. The checklist rests on well-documented risks and expert guidance, not on proof that a given rule works.

Protection is a natural-health value

Natural-health traditions grew up in communities. In a healthy community, the midwife knows when to call for more help, elders keep an eye on newcomers, and neighbors notice when someone stops showing up.

Respecting autonomy means members make their own choices. Protecting them means making sure those choices come with good information and without someone exploiting them. A group that says “ask your midwife about that herb” is honoring both the herb and the mother.

Questions readers ask

The bottom line

Wellness groups do some of their best work for people at hard moments, and those same moments create the biggest risks. Older adults face fraud, people with eating disorders face constant diet talk, pregnant members face untested products, teens face body pressure, and anyone can reach a crisis.

You can’t remove every risk. You can write clear rules, train at least two moderators, pin a referral list, and decide ahead of time what you’ll do when someone mentions suicide. That turns kindness into protection.

Related reading

• What a peer who’s been there can do that a clinician can’t
• How miracle-cure scams borrow the language you trust
• People come to wellness groups for answers and stay for belonging
• What happens when you don’t tell your doctor about supplements
• How to answer false health claims in your group without shaming anyone

Sources

1. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center. “2025 Internet Crime Report.” FBI, 2026. ic3.gov
2. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center. “Elder Fraud.” FBI, accessed October 2026. ic3.gov
3. U.S. Department of Justice, Elder Justice Initiative. “Find Help or Report Abuse.” DOJ, accessed October 2026. justice.gov
4. U.S. Department of Justice, Elder Justice Initiative. “About Elder Abuse.” DOJ, accessed October 2026. justice.gov
5. Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. “Confronting Health Misinformation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Building a Healthy Information Environment.” HHS, 2021. hhs.gov
6. Turner PG, Lefevre CE. “Instagram use is linked to increased symptoms of orthorexia nervosa.” Eating and Weight Disorders, 2017. link.springer.com
7. Valera JH, Ruiz PA, Valdespino BR, Visioli F. “Prevalence of orthorexia nervosa among ashtanga yoga practitioners: a pilot study.” Eating and Weight Disorders, 2014. link.springer.com
8. National Alliance for Eating Disorders. “Helpline Acquisition & Expanded Services.” The Alliance, 2023. allianceforeatingdisorders.com
9. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. “Dietary Supplements and Life Stages: Pregnancy. Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.” NIH, accessed October 2026. ods.od.nih.gov
10. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. “Vitamin A and Carotenoids. Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.” NIH, accessed October 2026. ods.od.nih.gov
11. Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. “Social Media and Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory.” HHS, 2023. hhs.gov
12. National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. “Suicide Prevention Month 2026 Messaging Toolkit.” Action Alliance, 2026. theactionalliance.org
13. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. “988 Lifeline.” Accessed October 2026. 988lifeline.org
14. Child Welfare Information Gateway. “Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau, 2015. dea.gov
15. Child Welfare Information Gateway. “How to Report Child Abuse and Neglect.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, accessed October 2026. childwelfare.gov