You have come across a great deal 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. The problem is cost.
But it seems there are other options instead of getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a site with more affordable 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 these ads are almost certainly scams. At best, you will be sent no product and lose any funds you paid. At worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to serious medical issues.
The widespread use of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a increase in fake goods hitting the market and scams established to merely steal people’s money.
Health authorities have advised avoiding buying such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via social media, stating they might include “toxins and other ingredients that could cause real harm”.
New figures from a major retail bank reveal a sharp rise in the number of clients who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the total sum lost to scams involving weight loss injections, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was more than double the overall amount stolen in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, an account may mimic the brand that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in spelling or logos.
These communications or posts will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate weight loss jabs, rose of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a significant financial, medical and emotional cost,” says the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying applies: should something seem overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have warned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. These products must solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script issued by a healthcare professional, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist located within Great Britain, you can check the website of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure they are correctly licensed.
