You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to get slim, you feel it is time to try them out ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
But it seems there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS comes through providing a URL to a website with much cheaper medication – and with no necessity to navigate proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on online platforms the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is these ads are almost certainly scams. At best, you will be sent nothing and lose any funds you spent. At worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to serious medical issues.
The widespread use of authentic weight loss medications has led to a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams set up to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying these illegal slimming medications absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or via digital platforms, stating they could contain “toxins and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank reveal a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money lost to scams involving slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter , was over twice the total sum lost in the previous three months. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Scammers are actively exploiting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with these scams skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
Most take place on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in text or brand marks.
These communications or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic slimming injections, rose recently, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can entail a serious financial, health-related and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: should something seem 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 using a prescription issued by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can go to great lengths to make their site or online profile look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is correctly licensed.
