You have heard and read a great deal about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, it feels like the moment has come to try them out in the run-up to the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS arrives giving a link to a site with much cheaper drugs – and with no need to navigate official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
The problem is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent nothing and lose any funds you paid. In the worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The widespread use of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a increase in fake goods hitting the market and deceptive practices set up to merely steal consumers' cash.
Health authorities have advised avoiding buying these illegal slimming medications absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or via social media, saying they could contain “harmful substances and other ingredients which may provoke genuine injury”.
New figures from a high street bank show a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the scam. According to the bank, the amount of money stolen through scams involving slimming jabs, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter , was more than double the overall amount lost in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on communication platforms and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the brand that you seek, but there will typically be subtle differences in text or brand marks.
The messages or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” lower.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can come at a significant financial, medical and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: 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 online. They should solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy using a prescription issued by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to health.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm they are correctly licensed.
