You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, it feels like the moment has come to try them out ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in cost.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. A text message arrives giving a link to a website with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to go through proper procedures. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, prompting you to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be scams. At best, you'll receive no product and lose whatever money you paid. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The widespread use of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a increase in fake goods hitting the market and deceptive practices established to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing such unlawful weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or through social media, saying they could contain “harmful substances and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the number of clients who have been affected by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum stolen through fraudulent activities involving weight loss injections, injector pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter , was more than double the overall amount lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with these scams skyrocketing in recent months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, an account may imitate the brand that you are looking for, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of some legitimate slimming injections, rose recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” more cheaply.
“Buying from unverified sellers online can come at a significant monetary, health-related and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. These products must only be obtained from a registered pharmacy using a prescription issued by a healthcare professional, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present significant dangers to health.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy located within Great Britain, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is correctly licensed.
