You have heard and read a great deal about people using slimming jabs to get slim, it feels like the moment has come to try them out in the run-up to the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS comes through providing a URL to a website with more affordable drugs – and with no necessity to go through proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media the other day, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is these ads are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive no product and lose any funds you paid. At worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The widespread use of authentic weight loss medications has led to a increase in counterfeit products hitting the market and deceptive practices established to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying such unlawful weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or via social media, saying they could contain “toxins and other ingredients that could cause real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through scams related to slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was over twice the total sum lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with these scams skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
The majority occur on communication platforms and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the brand that you seek, but there will typically be subtle differences in spelling or logos.
These communications or posts will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate weight loss jabs, has increased recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can entail a significant monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the old adage holds true: if it appears too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have warned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines via the web. They should solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script provided by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present significant dangers to wellbeing.
Criminals can go to great lengths to make their site or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist based in the UK, you can check the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm they are correctly licensed.
