You have heard and read so much about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, it feels like the moment has come to give it a go in the run-up to the festive season. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. A text message arrives giving a link to a website with more affordable medication – and requiring no need to navigate official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on online platforms recently, so you decide to go for it.
The problem is these ads are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and forfeit any funds you paid. At worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in serious medical issues.
The widespread use of legitimate slimming drugs has led to a rise in fake goods entering circulation and scams established to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have warned against purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, stating they might include “harmful substances and additional components that could cause real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a significant surge in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through fraudulent activities related to slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter this year, was more than double the overall amount lost in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in recent months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social networks. On socials, an account may imitate the company that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in text or logos.
The messages or posts will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of some legitimate slimming injections, rose of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” lower.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can come at a serious financial, medical and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the wise saying applies: should something seem overly advantageous, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications online. They should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy with a valid script issued by a medical practitioner, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose significant dangers to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist located within the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm they are correctly licensed.
