You have heard and read a great deal about people using weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out in the run-up to the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
Yet it appears alternatives exist instead of obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a site with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no necessity to navigate official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent no product and lose any funds you spent. At worst, you receive a fake version, containing unspecified components that could lead to severe health problems.
The widespread use of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a increase in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams set up to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, stating they could contain “toxins and additional components that could cause real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through scams involving slimming jabs, pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter this year, was more than double the total sum lost in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with these scams skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
The majority occur on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the brand that you are looking for, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or posts will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate slimming injections, rose recently, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Buying from unverified sellers online can entail a significant monetary, medical and emotional cost,” warns the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the old adage applies: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. They should only be obtained from a licensed chemist using a prescription issued by a medical practitioner, they advise. When procured from other sources, they may pose significant dangers to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or online profile look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an online pharmacy based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is correctly licensed.
