You have heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel it is time to try them out in the run-up to the festive season. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than getting a prescription and going to the pharmacy. An SMS comes through giving a link to a site with more affordable medication – and requiring no necessity to navigate official channels. And you saw a similar ad on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.
The problem is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive nothing and forfeit whatever money you spent. In the worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The widespread use of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams set up to merely steal people’s money.
Health authorities have advised avoiding purchasing such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, saying they could contain “harmful substances and additional components that could cause real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank reveal a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the scam. According to the bank, the total sum stolen through scams related to slimming jabs, 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. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds soaring in the past few months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social media. On socials, a profile may imitate the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or updates will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate weight loss jabs, rose of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can come at a serious monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications online. These products must solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script provided by a healthcare professional, they advise. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can go to great lengths to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is correctly licensed.
