You have heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel it is time to give it a go ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than getting a prescription and going to the chemist. An SMS comes through giving a link to a site with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to navigate official channels. And you saw a similar ad on social media recently, prompting you to take the plunge.
The catch is these ads are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive no product and forfeit whatever money you paid. At worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components which may result in serious medical issues.
The widespread use of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a increase in counterfeit products entering circulation and deceptive practices established to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have warned against purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, saying they might include “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a major retail bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the fraud. According to the bank, the total sum stolen through fraudulent activities related to weight loss injections, pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was over twice the overall amount stolen in the prior quarter. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams soaring in the past few months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
Most occur on communication platforms and social media. On socials, a profile may mimic the brand that you are looking for, but there will typically be subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or posts will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic slimming injections, rose recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can entail a serious monetary, medical and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have warned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines via the web. They should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can go to great lengths to design their webpage or social media page look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an online pharmacy located within Great Britain, it's possible to verify the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is correctly licensed.
