You've heard and read a great deal about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to give it a go in the run-up to the holiday period. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. A text message arrives giving a link to a site with much cheaper medication – and with no necessity to go through proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on online platforms the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive no product and lose whatever money you spent. At worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of authentic slimming drugs has led to a rise in fake goods hitting the market and scams set up to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or via social media, saying they might include “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke genuine injury”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum lost to fraudulent activities related to weight loss injections, pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was over twice the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with these scams soaring in recent months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
Most occur on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, an account may imitate the brand that you are looking for, but you'll often notice subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or updates will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of some legitimate slimming injections, rose of late, the scammers will price their “item” lower.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors on the internet can entail a serious financial, health-related and psychological toll,” warns the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have warned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. They should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, they advise. When procured from other sources, they may pose significant dangers to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist based in the UK, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is properly registered.
