You've heard and read so much regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to give it a go in the run-up to the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. A text message arrives providing a URL to a website with much cheaper medication – and with no need to go through proper procedures. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, prompting you to take the plunge.
The catch is these ads 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 which may result in severe health problems.
The widespread use of authentic weight loss medications has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams set up to simply take consumers' cash.
Health authorities have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or via digital platforms, stating they might include “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum lost to scams involving slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter this year, was over twice the total sum stolen in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, an account may mimic the company that you are looking for, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or logos.
These communications or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of certain authentic slimming injections, has increased recently, the fraudsters will price their “product” lower.
“Buying from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a serious financial, medical and psychological toll,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have warned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines online. They should solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present significant dangers to wellbeing.
Criminals can go to great lengths to make their site or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, you can check the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm they are properly registered.
