You've come across a great deal about people using weight loss injections to get slim, you feel the moment has come to try them out in the run-up to the holiday period. The problem is cost.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a site with more affordable medication – and with no need to go through official channels. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media the other day, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent no product and lose any funds you spent. In the worst, you receive a fake version, containing unspecified components that could lead to serious medical issues.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has led to a increase in fake goods entering circulation and scams set up to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against purchasing such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via social media, stating they might include “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 affected by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money lost to scams involving weight loss injections, pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was more than double the overall amount stolen in the prior quarter. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
What it looks like
The majority take place on messaging apps and social networks. On socials, a profile may imitate the brand that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of some legitimate weight loss jabs, rose of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can come at a significant monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have warned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription issued by a medical practitioner, they advise. When procured from other sources, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist located within Great Britain, it's possible to verify the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is correctly licensed.
