You've come across so much about people using slimming jabs to get slim, it feels like it is time to give it a go in the run-up to the festive season. However, the issue lies in expense.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. A text message comes through providing a URL to a website with more affordable medication – and with no need to go through proper procedures. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, so you decide to go for it.
The problem is these ads are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive no product and lose any funds you paid. In the worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of authentic slimming drugs has led to a increase in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams established to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against purchasing such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, stating they might include “toxins and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. According to the bank, the amount of money lost to fraudulent activities involving slimming jabs, injector pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter this year, was more than double the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. Each incident typically costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in recent months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the brand that you are looking for, but there will typically be slight variations in text or logos.
These communications or updates will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose of late, the fraudsters will price their “product” lower.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers online can come at a serious monetary, medical and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage applies: should something seem overly advantageous, 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 registered pharmacy with a valid script provided by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they may pose significant dangers to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to make their site or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is properly registered.
