You've come across a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to get slim, it feels like the moment has come to give it a go in the run-up to the festive season. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS comes through giving a link to a site with more affordable drugs – and requiring no need to go through official channels. And you saw a similar ad on online platforms the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The problem is these ads are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent nothing and forfeit any funds you paid. At worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients that could lead to serious medical issues.
The popularity of authentic weight loss medications has resulted in a increase in fake goods entering circulation and scams set up to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against purchasing such unlawful slimming medications absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, saying they could contain “toxins 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. According to the bank, the total sum stolen through scams involving weight loss injections, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter , was over twice the total sum lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are actively exploiting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social media. On socials, a profile may mimic the brand that you are looking for, but there will typically be slight variations in text or logos.
These communications or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of some legitimate weight loss jabs, rose of late, the scammers will price their “item” lower.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can entail a significant financial, health-related and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: should something seem overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications online. They should solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script issued by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to health.
Fraudsters 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 the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm they are correctly licensed.
