You've come across so much regarding the use of weight loss injections to get slim, it feels like the moment has come to give it a go in the run-up to the festive season. The problem is expense.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. A text message arrives providing a URL to a website with more affordable drugs – and requiring no need to go through proper procedures. You also noticed a similar ad on online platforms the other day, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and forfeit any funds you spent. 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 resulted in a increase in fake goods hitting the market and scams established to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or through social media, saying they could contain “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the number of customers who have been affected by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money lost to scams involving slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter this year, was over twice the overall amount lost in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers 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
Most occur on messaging apps and social media. On socials, a profile may imitate the company that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate weight loss jabs, has increased of late, the scammers will price their “item” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can entail a significant monetary, medical and emotional cost,” warns the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications online. These products must solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script issued by a healthcare professional, they advise. When procured from other sources, they can present significant dangers to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is properly registered.
