You have heard and read so much regarding the use of weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel it is time to give it a go in the run-up to the festive season. 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 providing a URL to a site with much cheaper drugs – and with no necessity to go through proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on social media the other day, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is these ads are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and lose whatever money you paid. At worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The widespread use of authentic weight loss medications has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and deceptive practices set up to merely steal consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have warned against purchasing these illegal slimming medications without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or through social media, saying they might include “toxins and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a major retail bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the fraud. According to the bank, the total sum lost to scams related to weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter this year, was more than double the total sum lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are actively exploiting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
Most occur on messaging apps and social networks. On socials, a profile may mimic the company that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in spelling or logos.
The messages or posts will often use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic slimming injections, rose of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” lower.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a serious monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the old adage applies: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines via the web. They should solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription issued by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose significant dangers to health.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist located within the UK, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm this is correctly licensed.
