You've heard and read so much about people using weight loss injections to lose weight, it feels like the moment has come to try them out in the run-up to the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears alternatives exist instead of obtaining a doctor's script and going to the chemist. A text message comes through providing a URL to a site with more affordable medication – and requiring no need to go through proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media the other day, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and lose any funds you spent. At worst, you receive a fake version, containing unspecified components which may result in severe health problems.
The widespread use of authentic slimming drugs has led to a rise in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices established to merely steal consumers' cash.
Health authorities have advised avoiding buying such unlawful slimming medications without a prescription from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or through digital platforms, saying they could contain “toxins and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the scam. The bank says, the total sum stolen through scams related to slimming jabs, injector pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products between July and September , was more than double the total sum lost in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most occur on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the brand that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in text or logos.
These communications or updates will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of some legitimate slimming injections, rose of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” lower.
“Buying from unverified sellers online can come at a serious monetary, medical and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines online. They should solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, they advise. When procured from other sources, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm they are properly registered.
