You've come across so much about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
But it seems there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a website with much cheaper medication – and with no necessity to go through official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, so you decide to go for it.
The problem is these ads are almost certainly scams. At best, you'll receive nothing and forfeit whatever money you spent. At worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components which may result in serious medical issues.
The widespread use of authentic weight loss medications has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams established to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying these illegal slimming medications without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or via social media, stating they might include “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank reveal a significant surge in the number of customers who have been affected by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money lost to fraudulent activities involving weight loss injections, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter this year, was more than double the overall amount lost in the prior quarter. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are actively exploiting individuals' self-doubts 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 media. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the company that you are looking for, but there will typically be subtle differences in text or brand marks.
The messages or posts will often use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate slimming injections, rose recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Buying from unverified sellers online can entail a serious financial, medical and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: if it appears too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. They should only be obtained from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm they are correctly licensed.
