You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the festive season. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than obtaining a doctor's script and going to the pharmacy. An SMS arrives giving a link to a site with much cheaper medication – and with no need to go through official channels. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media the other day, prompting you to take the plunge.
The problem is these ads are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive nothing and lose whatever money you spent. In the worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in serious medical issues.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has led to a rise in fake goods entering circulation and scams established to simply take people’s money.
Health authorities have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal slimming medications without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or through digital platforms, stating they might include “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the number of customers who have been affected by the scam. According to the bank, the amount of money lost to scams involving weight loss injections, pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter this year, was more than double the total sum stolen in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams soaring in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
The majority occur on messaging apps and social networks. On socials, an account may mimic the brand that you are looking for, but there will typically be slight variations in text or brand marks.
These communications or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can entail a serious financial, health-related and emotional cost,” says the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: if it appears 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. These products must solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy using a prescription issued by a medical practitioner, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to health.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, it's possible to verify the website of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is correctly licensed.
