You've come across a great deal about people using slimming jabs to get slim, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
But it seems there are other options instead of getting a prescription and going to the pharmacy. A text message arrives giving a link to a website with much cheaper drugs – and with no necessity to go through official channels. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on online platforms the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive nothing and forfeit whatever money you spent. At worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to serious medical issues.
The popularity of authentic weight loss medications has led to a increase in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices set up to merely steal consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, saying they could contain “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the total sum lost to fraudulent activities involving slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was over twice the total sum lost in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds soaring in the past few months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
The majority take place on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the company that you are looking for, but you'll often notice slight variations in text or logos.
These communications or posts will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased of late, the scammers will price their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can entail a significant monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Medical authorities 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, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to health.
Criminals can go to great lengths to design their webpage or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist based in Great Britain, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure they are properly registered.
