You've heard and read a great deal about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel it is time to try them out ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in expense.
But it seems there are other options rather than getting a prescription and going to the chemist. A text message comes through providing a URL to a website with more affordable drugs – and requiring no necessity to go through proper procedures. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and lose whatever money you spent. In the worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a rise in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices established to merely steal people’s money.
Health authorities have warned against buying such unlawful slimming medications absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, stating they might include “toxins and additional components that could cause real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum lost to fraudulent activities involving weight loss injections, injector pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was more than double the overall amount lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with these scams soaring in the past few months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
Most take place on communication platforms and social networks. Across platforms, an account may imitate the company that you are looking for, but you'll often notice subtle differences in spelling or logos.
The messages or posts will often use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of certain authentic slimming injections, rose recently, the scammers will price their “item” lower.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a serious financial, medical and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: should something seem overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines via the web. They should only be obtained from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can go to great lengths to design their webpage or online profile look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist based in the UK, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is correctly licensed.
