You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to get slim, you feel the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the festive season. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears alternatives exist instead of obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the chemist. A text message arrives providing a URL to a site with much cheaper medication – and requiring no need to go through proper procedures. You also noticed a similar ad on social media the other day, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is these ads are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive no product and forfeit any funds you spent. At worst, you receive a counterfeit item, 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 hitting the market and deceptive practices set up to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against purchasing such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, stating they could contain “toxins and other ingredients that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a high street bank show a significant surge in the quantity of clients who have been affected by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through scams related to weight loss injections, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter this year, was more than double the total sum lost in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with these scams soaring in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, an account may imitate the brand that you seek, but there will typically be subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or updates will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic slimming injections, has increased of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can come at a serious financial, health-related and emotional cost,” says the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the wise saying applies: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines via the web. They should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, they advise. When procured from other sources, they may pose serious risks to health.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist located within Great Britain, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is properly registered.
