You have heard and read a great deal about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in expense.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the pharmacy. A text message comes through providing a URL to a site with much cheaper drugs – and with no necessity to navigate official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is these ads are highly likely to be scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive nothing and lose any funds you paid. At worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The widespread use of legitimate weight loss medications has led to a rise in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices set up to merely steal consumers' cash.
Health authorities have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, saying they might include “harmful substances and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money lost to fraudulent activities related to slimming jabs, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was over twice the total sum lost in the prior quarter. Each incident typically costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with these scams skyrocketing in recent months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, an account may mimic the company that you seek, but there will typically be subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or posts will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of certain authentic slimming injections, rose of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can come at a serious monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” says the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines via the web. They should only be obtained 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.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to make their site or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is correctly licensed.
