You have heard and read a great deal about people using weight loss injections to get slim, it feels like it is time 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 going to the chemist. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a website with more affordable medication – and with no need to navigate official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly scams. At best, you'll receive nothing and lose any funds you paid. At worst, you receive a fake version, containing unspecified components that could lead to severe health problems.
The widespread use of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams set up to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order 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 number of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum stolen through fraudulent activities related to slimming jabs, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was over twice the overall amount lost in the prior quarter. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority take place on messaging apps and social media. Across platforms, an account may imitate the brand that you are looking for, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or updates will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic slimming injections, rose of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can entail a serious financial, medical and psychological toll,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines online. These products must only be obtained from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present significant dangers to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist located within the UK, it's possible to verify the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is correctly licensed.
