You've come across a great deal about people using slimming jabs to get slim, you feel it is time to try them out in the run-up to the festive season. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than getting a prescription and going to the pharmacy. A text message arrives providing a URL to a website with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to navigate proper procedures. And you saw a comparable advertisement on online platforms the other day, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and lose whatever money you spent. In the worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate 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 without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, saying they could contain “harmful substances and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been affected by the fraud. According to the bank, the total sum stolen through scams involving slimming jabs, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was more than double the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
What it looks like
Most occur on messaging apps and social media. Across platforms, an account may imitate the company that you are looking for, but you'll often notice subtle differences in text or logos.
The messages or updates will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Buying from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a serious monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications via the web. They should solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can go to great lengths to design their webpage or social media page look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an online pharmacy located within Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is correctly licensed.
