You've 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 holiday period. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the chemist. A text message arrives giving a link to a site with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no necessity to go through official channels. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and lose whatever money you spent. At worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has led to a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams set up to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, saying they could contain “toxins and other ingredients that could cause real harm”.
Recent statistics from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. According to the bank, the amount of money stolen through scams related to slimming jabs, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was over twice the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds soaring in recent months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social networks. On socials, an account may mimic the brand that you are looking for, but you'll often notice slight variations in text or brand marks.
These communications or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose recently, the fraudsters will price their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a serious monetary, medical and psychological toll,” warns the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the old adage applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines online. These products must solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy using a prescription issued by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an online pharmacy located within Great Britain, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm they are correctly licensed.
