You have heard and read a great deal about people using weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and going to the pharmacy. A text message arrives giving a link to a site with much cheaper medication – and requiring no need to go through proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on online platforms recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
The problem is these ads are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and forfeit any funds you paid. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients that could lead to serious medical issues.
The widespread use of authentic slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in fake goods entering circulation and scams established to simply take consumers' cash.
Health authorities have advised avoiding purchasing such unlawful slimming medications without a prescription from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or through social media, stating they could contain “harmful substances and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been affected by the scam. According to the bank, the total sum stolen through scams involving slimming jabs, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was over twice the overall amount stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most occur on messaging apps and social media. On socials, an account may mimic the brand that you are looking for, but there will typically be slight variations in text or logos.
The messages or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate slimming injections, rose of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers online can entail a significant financial, medical and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the old adage holds true: should something seem overly advantageous, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. They should solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy using a prescription issued by a medical practitioner, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present significant dangers to health.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to make their site or social media page look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is correctly licensed.
