You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to get slim, you feel the moment has come 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 going to the chemist. A text message arrives giving a link to a site with much cheaper medication – and with no necessity to navigate official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on online platforms recently, prompting you to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive nothing and lose any funds you paid. At worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of authentic weight loss medications has resulted in a rise in fake goods entering circulation and scams established to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against buying these illegal slimming medications without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via social media, stating they might include “harmful substances and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the scam. The bank says, the total sum lost to fraudulent activities related to weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was more than double the overall amount stolen in the previous three months. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams soaring in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority take place on communication platforms and social networks. Across platforms, an account may imitate the company that you are looking for, but you'll often notice slight variations in text or logos.
The messages or posts will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of some legitimate slimming injections, has increased of late, the scammers will price their “item” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers online can entail a serious monetary, health-related and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying 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 with a valid script provided by a healthcare professional, they advise. When procured from other sources, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can go to great lengths to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in Great Britain, you can check the website of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is correctly licensed.
