You've heard and read so much regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, it feels like the moment has come to give it a go in the run-up to the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
But it seems alternatives exist instead of getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS arrives giving a link to a website with much cheaper drugs – and with no necessity to navigate proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on online platforms the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is these ads are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive nothing and forfeit any funds you spent. At worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in serious medical issues.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has led to a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams set up to merely steal consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or through social media, saying they might include “toxins and other ingredients that could cause real harm”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the number of clients who have been impacted by the scam. According to the bank, the amount of money lost to scams related to slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was over twice the total sum stolen in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are actively exploiting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with such frauds soaring in recent months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
Most occur on messaging apps and social media. Across platforms, an account may imitate the company that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a serious monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” says the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: should something seem overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Health regulators have warned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines via the web. These products must solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present significant dangers to health.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is correctly licensed.
