You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of weight loss injections to get slim, you feel the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the festive season. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a site with much cheaper medication – and requiring no need to go through official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The problem is these ads are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent no product and lose any funds you paid. At worst, you receive a fake version, containing unspecified components which may result in serious medical issues.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a rise in fake goods entering circulation and scams established to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying such unlawful weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or via digital platforms, saying they could contain “harmful substances and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the scam. According to the bank, the amount of money stolen through fraudulent activities related to slimming jabs, injector pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter , was over twice the overall amount stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the brand that you are looking for, but there will typically be slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or updates 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 recently, the fraudsters will price their “item” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a serious financial, health-related and psychological toll,” says the security specialist.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage holds true: if it appears overly advantageous, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have warned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications online. These products must 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.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, it's possible to verify the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is correctly licensed.
