You've heard and read so much regarding the use of weight loss injections to lose weight, it feels like the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the festive season. The problem is cost.
But it seems there are other options instead of getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS arrives giving a link to a site with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no necessity to navigate proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and forfeit whatever money you paid. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has led to a increase in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams established to simply take people’s money.
Health authorities have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or via social media, saying they might include “toxins and additional components that could cause real harm”.
Recent statistics from a major retail bank reveal a significant surge in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the scam. According to the bank, 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 over twice the total sum lost in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with these scams soaring in recent months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
Most occur on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, an account may imitate the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or logos.
The messages or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of some legitimate slimming injections, rose recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a significant monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the old adage applies: if it appears overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines online. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose significant dangers to health.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site 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.
