You've come across a great deal regarding the use of weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the festive season. The problem is cost.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and going to the pharmacy. An SMS comes through providing a URL to a website with much cheaper medication – and requiring no need to go through proper procedures. You also noticed a similar ad on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive nothing and lose any funds you paid. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components which may result in serious medical issues.
The widespread use of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in fake goods hitting the market and scams established to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators 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 “toxins and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum lost to scams involving slimming jabs, pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was more than double the overall amount lost in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with these scams skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
The majority take place on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, an account may imitate the company that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or logos.
The messages or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of some legitimate weight loss jabs, has increased recently, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can come at a serious financial, medical and psychological toll,” warns the fraud expert.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: if it appears overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Health regulators have warned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm they are properly registered.
