You've come across so much about people using weight loss injections to get slim, it feels like the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the festive season. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. A text message arrives providing a URL to a website with more affordable drugs – and requiring no necessity to navigate official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is these ads are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent nothing and forfeit whatever money you spent. At worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The widespread use of authentic slimming drugs has led to a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams established to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against buying these illegal slimming medications absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via social media, saying they might include “toxins and additional components which may provoke genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank reveal a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the total sum lost to scams related to slimming jabs, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was over twice the overall amount lost in the prior quarter. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with these scams skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social media. On socials, an account may mimic the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic slimming injections, has increased recently, the fraudsters will price their “product” lower.
“Buying from unverified sellers online can come at a significant monetary, health-related and psychological toll,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the old adage holds true: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. These products must only be obtained from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in Great Britain, you can check the website of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is properly registered.
