You've come across so much regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel it is time to try them out ahead of the festive season. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. A text message arrives providing a URL to a website with more affordable drugs – and with no necessity to navigate official channels. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media the other day, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is these ads are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive no product and forfeit any funds you spent. In the worst, you receive a fake version, containing unspecified components which may result in serious medical issues.
The popularity of authentic slimming drugs has resulted in a increase in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams established to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through social media, stating they might include “harmful substances and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the fraud. According to the bank, the total sum lost to scams involving slimming jabs, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was over twice the overall amount stolen in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with these scams soaring in the past few months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
What it looks like
Most take place on communication platforms and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the company that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in text or brand marks.
The messages or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic slimming injections, rose recently, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” more cheaply.
“Buying from unverified sellers online can entail a significant financial, medical and psychological toll,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have warned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications online. They should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy using a prescription issued by a healthcare professional, they advise. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist based in the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure they are properly registered.
