You have heard and read a great deal about people using weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel it is time to give it a go in the run-up to the festive season. The problem is cost.
But it seems alternatives exist instead of getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS comes through giving a link to a site with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to go through official channels. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on online platforms recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
The problem is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive nothing and lose whatever money you spent. At worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has led to a increase in counterfeit products entering circulation and deceptive practices set up to merely steal consumers' cash.
Health authorities have warned against buying such unlawful weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or through digital platforms, saying they might include “toxins and additional components that could cause real harm”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the number of clients who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum stolen through fraudulent activities involving slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was over twice the overall amount lost in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds soaring in recent months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most occur on messaging apps and social networks. On socials, a profile may mimic the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
The messages or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased of late, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can entail a significant financial, health-related and psychological toll,” warns the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage holds true: if it appears too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications online. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription issued by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they may pose significant dangers to health.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is correctly licensed.
