You've come across a great deal about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel it is time to give it a go ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in cost.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and going to the chemist. A text message arrives giving a link to a site with much cheaper drugs – and with no need to go through official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is these ads are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent nothing and lose whatever money you spent. At worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components that could lead to severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a increase in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams established to simply take people’s money.
Health authorities have warned against purchasing these illegal slimming medications without a prescription from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or through social media, saying they might include “harmful substances and additional components that could cause real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank show a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum stolen through scams related to weight loss injections, pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was over twice the overall amount lost in the previous three months. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
What it looks like
Most take place on messaging apps and social networks. On socials, a profile may imitate the company that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of some legitimate weight loss jabs, has increased recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can come at a serious monetary, health-related and psychological toll,” warns the fraud expert.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have warned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications online. They should solely be acquired from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a medical practitioner, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they can present serious risks to health.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm this is properly registered.
