You've come across a great deal regarding the use of weight loss injections to lose weight, it feels like the moment has come to try them out in the run-up to the festive season. The problem is expense.
But it seems alternatives exist instead of getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. A text message comes through providing a URL to a site with much cheaper drugs – and with no need to navigate official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on social media recently, prompting you to take the plunge.
The problem is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent no product and lose any funds you spent. At worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The popularity of authentic weight loss medications has led to a rise in fake goods hitting the market and scams set up to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, saying they could contain “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum lost to fraudulent activities involving slimming jabs, pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was over twice the total sum lost in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams soaring in recent months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the company that you seek, but there will typically be subtle differences in text or brand marks.
The messages or updates will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of certain authentic slimming injections, rose recently, 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,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
As with all scams, the old adage applies: if it appears overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have warned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines online. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy located within Great Britain, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is properly registered.
