You have come across so much about people using slimming jabs to get slim, it feels like it is time to try them out ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. A text message comes through giving a link to a website with more affordable medication – and requiring no necessity to go through official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on online platforms the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The problem is these ads are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and forfeit any funds you paid. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of authentic weight loss medications has led to a increase in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices established to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against buying such unlawful slimming medications absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via social media, saying they might include “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the number of customers who have been affected by the fraud. According to the bank, the amount of money lost to scams involving slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September , was over twice the overall amount lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds soaring in the past few months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
Most occur 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 text or brand marks.
These communications or updates will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate weight loss jabs, has increased of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can come at a significant monetary, medical and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines via the web. They should 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 health.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to make their site or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an online pharmacy based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm they are correctly licensed.
