You have come across a great deal about people using weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the holiday period. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of obtaining a doctor's script and going to the pharmacy. An SMS comes through giving a link to a website with much cheaper drugs – and with no need to go through official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on online platforms the other day, prompting you to go for it.
The problem is such promotions are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent nothing and lose any funds you spent. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients that could lead to serious medical issues.
The popularity of authentic slimming drugs has led to a rise in fake goods hitting the market and scams set up to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against purchasing these illegal slimming medications without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, saying they might include “harmful substances and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money lost to scams related to weight loss injections, pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was over twice the total sum lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with these scams soaring in recent months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
What it looks like
Most take place on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the company that you seek, but there will typically be 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 “free giveaway”.
As the price of certain authentic slimming injections, has increased of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” 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 old adage holds true: should something seem overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. They should solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an online pharmacy based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm they are correctly licensed.
