You have heard and read so much 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 holiday period. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS arrives giving a link to a website with more affordable drugs – and with no necessity to navigate official channels. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media the other day, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly scams. At best, you will be sent no product and forfeit any funds you spent. In the worst, you obtain a fake version, containing unspecified components that could lead to severe health problems.
The widespread use of legitimate weight loss medications has led to a rise in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices set up to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have warned against buying these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through social media, stating they could contain “toxins and other ingredients that could cause real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through fraudulent activities involving weight loss injections, pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September , was over twice the overall amount lost in the previous three months. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or posts will often use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose recently, the fraudsters will price their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can come at a serious financial, health-related and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. They should solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script issued by a medical practitioner, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to health.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is correctly licensed.
