You have come across so much about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out in the run-up to the holiday period. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a site with much cheaper medication – and with no necessity to navigate proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on online platforms recently, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is these ads are almost certainly scams. At best, you'll receive nothing and lose whatever money you spent. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The widespread use of legitimate weight loss medications has led to a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams established to merely steal people’s money.
Health authorities have warned against buying these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or via digital platforms, saying they could contain “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke genuine injury”.
Recent statistics from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the number of customers who have been affected by the fraud. According to the bank, the amount of money stolen through fraudulent activities related to weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter , was over twice the overall amount stolen in the previous three months. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are actively exploiting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with these scams soaring in recent months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
The majority take place on communication platforms and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic slimming injections, has increased of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can entail a serious monetary, medical and psychological toll,” says the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have warned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a medical practitioner, it says. When procured from other sources, they may pose significant dangers to health.
Criminals can go to great lengths to make their site or social media page look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist located within Great Britain, you can check the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure they are correctly licensed.
