You've come across a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out in the run-up to the festive season. However, the issue lies in expense.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the chemist. A text message arrives giving a link to a site with much cheaper drugs – and with no need to go through proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on social media the other day, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly scams. At best, you'll receive no product and lose whatever money you paid. In the worst, you receive a fake version, containing unspecified components that could lead to serious medical issues.
The popularity of authentic weight loss medications has led to a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams set up to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying these illegal slimming medications absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, stating they could contain “toxins and other ingredients that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank reveal a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through scams involving weight loss injections, pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was over twice the overall amount lost in the prior quarter. Each incident typically costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with these scams skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the brand that you are looking for, but you'll often notice subtle differences in text or brand marks.
The messages or posts will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of some legitimate slimming injections, has increased recently, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers online can come at a serious monetary, medical and psychological toll,” warns the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
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 extremely cautious when buying medicines via the web. These products must only be obtained from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to health.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist based in the UK, you can check the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is correctly licensed.
