You've heard and read a great deal about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, it feels like it is time to try them out ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in expense.
But it seems alternatives exist instead of obtaining a doctor's script and going to the chemist. An SMS comes through giving a link to a website with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to navigate official channels. And you saw a similar ad on online platforms recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is these ads are almost certainly scams. At best, you'll receive no product and lose whatever money you paid. In the worst, you obtain a fake version, containing unspecified components which may result in severe health problems.
The widespread use of authentic slimming drugs has led to a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams set up to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying such unlawful slimming medications without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via social media, saying they could contain “harmful substances and other ingredients that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a high street bank show a significant surge in the number of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. According to the bank, the total sum lost to scams related to weight loss injections, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was over twice the overall amount lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in recent months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority take place on communication platforms and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the company that you are looking for, but there will typically be slight variations in text or logos.
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, rose recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can entail a serious monetary, medical and emotional cost,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage applies: should something seem overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications online. These products must only be obtained from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to health.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to make their site or social media page look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist based in the UK, it's possible to verify the website of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm they are correctly licensed.
