You've come across a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out in the run-up to the festive season. The problem is cost.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS comes through providing a URL to a website with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to go through proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on online platforms the other day, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and forfeit whatever money you paid. At worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients that could lead to serious medical issues.
The widespread use of authentic weight loss medications has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and deceptive practices established to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against purchasing such unlawful slimming medications without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or through social media, saying they could contain “harmful substances and other ingredients that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a high street bank reveal a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the fraud. According to the bank, the total sum stolen through fraudulent activities related to weight loss injections, injector pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter this year, was more than double 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 soaring in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
Most take place on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the company that you seek, but there will typically be subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or updates will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose of late, the scammers will price their “product” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can entail a serious monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage applies: should something seem overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications online. These products must only be obtained from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose significant dangers to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure they are properly registered.
