You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel it is time to try them out in the run-up to the holiday period. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS comes through giving a link to a site with much cheaper medication – and with no necessity to go through proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on online platforms recently, so you decide to go for it.
The problem is such promotions are almost certainly scams. At best, you'll receive no product and lose any funds you paid. At worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The widespread use of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a increase in counterfeit products entering circulation and deceptive practices established to simply take consumers' cash.
Health authorities have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, stating they could contain “harmful substances and additional components that could cause real harm”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money lost to scams involving weight loss injections, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was more than double the overall amount stolen in the previous three months. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
What it looks like
Most occur on communication platforms and social media. On socials, a profile may mimic the brand that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in text or brand marks.
These communications or posts will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of some legitimate slimming injections, rose of late, the fraudsters will price their “item” lower.
“Buying from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a significant monetary, health-related and psychological toll,” says the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the old adage applies: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have warned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription issued by a healthcare professional, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present serious risks to health.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is properly registered.
