You have come across so much regarding the use of weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the holiday period. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a site with much cheaper medication – and requiring no need to go through official channels. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media recently, 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 receive a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components which may result in severe health problems.
The widespread use of authentic slimming drugs has led to a rise in fake goods hitting the market and scams set up to merely steal consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have warned against buying such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or through social media, saying they might include “toxins and additional components which may provoke genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a significant surge in the number of customers who have been affected by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum lost to scams related to weight loss injections, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter , was more than double the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority take place on messaging apps and social media. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the company that you are looking for, but there will typically be slight variations in text or brand marks.
These communications or posts will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can entail a significant monetary, medical and psychological toll,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying applies: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have warned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines via the web. They should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy with a valid script provided by a healthcare professional, they advise. When procured from other sources, they may pose significant dangers to health.
Criminals can go to great lengths to make their site or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state 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 properly registered.
