You have come across so much regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than obtaining a doctor's script and going to the pharmacy. An SMS comes through giving a link to a site with much cheaper drugs – and with no necessity to navigate proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on social media the other day, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and lose any funds you spent. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in serious medical issues.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a rise in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices established to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against buying such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or through social media, saying they could contain “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a significant surge in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money lost to scams related to slimming jabs, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was over twice the overall amount stolen in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with these scams soaring in the past few months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
The majority occur on communication platforms and social networks. On socials, a profile may imitate the company that you seek, but there will typically be subtle differences in text or brand marks.
The messages or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate slimming injections, rose recently, the fraudsters will price their “item” lower.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can entail a serious monetary, medical and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage applies: if it appears overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines via the web. These products must solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script provided by a healthcare professional, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist located within the UK, it's possible to verify the website of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm they are correctly licensed.
