You have heard and read so much about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
But it seems there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. A text message arrives providing a URL to a website with more affordable medication – and with no necessity to go through official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.
The problem is such promotions are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and lose whatever money you paid. At worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of authentic slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in fake goods hitting the market and scams set up to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against buying these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via social media, stating they could contain “harmful substances and additional components that could cause real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the scam. According to the bank, the amount of money stolen through fraudulent activities related to weight loss injections, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was over twice the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with such frauds skyrocketing in recent months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
Most occur on communication platforms and social networks. On socials, a profile may mimic the company that you are looking for, but there will typically be subtle differences in spelling or logos.
These communications or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose recently, the fraudsters will price their “item” lower.
“Buying from unverified sellers online can entail a significant monetary, medical and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the old adage holds true: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have warned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications via the web. These products must only be obtained from a licensed chemist using a prescription issued by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they may pose significant dangers to health.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an online pharmacy located within Great Britain, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm this is correctly licensed.
