You've come across so much regarding the use of weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the festive season. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS comes through providing a URL to a website with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no necessity to navigate official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on online platforms the other day, prompting you to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive nothing and lose whatever money you spent. In the worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams established to merely steal people’s money.
Health authorities have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via social media, stating they could contain “toxins and other ingredients that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money lost to fraudulent activities involving weight loss injections, pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products between July and September , was more than double the overall amount lost in the prior quarter. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with such frauds skyrocketing in recent months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social media. On socials, an account may imitate the brand that you are looking for, but there will typically be subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or posts will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “limited-time offer”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of some legitimate weight loss jabs, rose of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a serious financial, medical and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage applies: should something seem overly advantageous, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have warned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines online. They should only be obtained from a licensed chemist using a prescription issued by a medical practitioner, they advise. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an online pharmacy based in Great Britain, you can check the website of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm they are properly registered.
