You've come across so much about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, it feels like it is time to give it a go ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
But it seems there are other options instead of getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. A text message arrives providing a URL to a site with more affordable medication – and requiring no necessity to navigate official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is these ads are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent no product and forfeit whatever money you spent. At worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The popularity of authentic slimming drugs has led to a rise in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices established to merely steal consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have warned against buying these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists 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 show a significant surge in the number of customers who have been affected by the fraud. According to the bank, the amount of money lost to fraudulent activities related to slimming jabs, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was over twice the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on communication platforms and social media. On socials, an account may imitate the company that you are looking for, but there will typically be subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or updates will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can come at a serious monetary, health-related and psychological toll,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: if it appears overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications online. They should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy with a valid script provided by a medical practitioner, it says. When procured from other sources, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, you can check the website of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is properly registered.
