You've heard and read a great deal about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, it feels like the moment has come to give it a go in the run-up to the festive season. The problem is expense.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the chemist. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a site with more affordable medication – and requiring no necessity to go through official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is these ads are highly likely to be scams. At best, you will be sent no product and lose any funds you spent. In the worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in serious medical issues.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a increase in counterfeit products entering circulation and deceptive practices established to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or via digital platforms, stating they could contain “harmful substances and other ingredients that could cause genuine injury”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money lost to scams related to slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter , was more than double the overall amount lost in the prior quarter. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams soaring in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on communication platforms and social networks. On socials, 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 often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of some legitimate weight loss jabs, has increased of late, the fraudsters will price their “item” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a serious monetary, health-related and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the old adage applies: if it appears too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present serious risks to health.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm this is correctly licensed.
