You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to get slim, you feel the moment has come to give it a go in the run-up to the holiday period. The problem is cost.
But it seems there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. A text message arrives providing a URL to a website with more affordable medication – and requiring no need to navigate proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on online platforms recently, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive nothing and forfeit whatever money you paid. At worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to 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 warned against purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via social media, stating they might include “toxins and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank reveal a significant surge in the number of customers who have been affected by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum stolen through scams involving slimming jabs, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions 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.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with these scams skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most occur on communication platforms and social media. On socials, an account may imitate the brand that you are looking for, but there will typically be subtle differences in text or brand marks.
These communications or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “limited-time offer”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of some legitimate weight loss jabs, has increased recently, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” more cheaply.
“Buying from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a significant monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” warns the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: if it appears overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines online. They should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they can present serious risks to health.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page 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.
