You have heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out in the run-up to the holiday period. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS comes through giving a link to a site with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no need to go through official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on online platforms the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent no product and forfeit whatever money you paid. In the worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components which may result in serious medical issues.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices established to simply take people’s money.
Health authorities have warned against purchasing such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or via digital platforms, stating they might include “harmful substances and other ingredients which may provoke genuine injury”.
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 lost to scams related to weight loss injections, pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was more than double the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. Each incident typically costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with such frauds soaring in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on communication platforms and social networks. Across platforms, an account may mimic the company that you are looking for, but there will typically be slight variations in text or brand marks.
The messages or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased recently, the fraudsters will price their “product” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can entail a significant monetary, medical and psychological toll,” says the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the old adage applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. They should solely be acquired from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a healthcare professional, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to health.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure they are properly registered.
