You have heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, it feels like it is time to try them out ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
Yet it appears alternatives exist instead of getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS comes through providing a URL to a website with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no need to navigate proper procedures. You also noticed a similar ad on online platforms the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The problem is these ads are highly likely to be scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive nothing and lose any funds you paid. In the worst, you obtain a fake version, containing unspecified components which may result in serious medical issues.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has led to a increase in fake goods hitting the market and deceptive practices set up to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through social media, saying they could contain “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through scams involving weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter this year, was more than double the total sum lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds soaring in the past few months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
The majority take place on communication platforms and social networks. Across platforms, an account may imitate the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or posts will often use pressure-inducing language such as “limited-time offer”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased recently, the scammers will price their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can come at a serious financial, medical and psychological toll,” warns the fraud expert.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: should something seem overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Health regulators have warned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines online. They should only be obtained from a licensed chemist using a prescription issued by a medical practitioner, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can go to great lengths to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm they are correctly licensed.
