You've come across so much regarding the use of weight loss injections to get slim, you feel it is time to try them out ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
But it seems there are other options instead of obtaining a doctor's script and going to the pharmacy. An SMS comes through providing a URL to a website with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no necessity to go through official channels. And you saw a similar ad on social media recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
The problem is these ads are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and forfeit whatever money you spent. At worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a increase in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams established to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through social media, saying they could contain “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke genuine injury”.
Recent statistics from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the number of clients who have been affected by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through scams related to weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was over twice the overall amount lost in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with these scams skyrocketing in recent months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
What it looks like
Most take place on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, an account may mimic the company that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in spelling or logos.
The messages or posts will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate slimming injections, has increased of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers online can entail a serious financial, medical and psychological toll,” warns the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. They should only be obtained from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a healthcare professional, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist located within the UK, it's possible to verify the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm this is correctly licensed.
