You have heard and read a great deal about people using weight loss injections to get slim, you feel it is time to give it a go 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 chemist. A text message arrives giving a link to a website with more affordable medication – and with no necessity to navigate proper procedures. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be scams. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent nothing and lose any funds you paid. At worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in serious medical issues.
The widespread use of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a increase in counterfeit products entering circulation and deceptive practices established to simply take consumers' cash.
Health authorities have warned against buying such unlawful slimming medications absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or via digital platforms, stating they could contain “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum lost to scams related to slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter this year, was more than double the total sum stolen in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with such frauds soaring in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on messaging apps and social media. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic slimming injections, rose of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a significant financial, medical and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the wise saying applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. These products must only be obtained from a licensed chemist with a valid script provided by a medical practitioner, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or online profile look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is correctly licensed.
