You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS comes through giving a link to a site with much cheaper medication – and requiring no need to go through official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on online platforms recently, prompting you to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive nothing and lose any funds you paid. In the worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to serious medical issues.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams set up to merely steal people’s money.
Health authorities have warned against buying these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, saying they could contain “harmful substances and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank show a significant surge in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money lost to fraudulent activities related to slimming jabs, pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was more than double the overall amount lost in the prior quarter. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities 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 messaging apps and social media. On socials, a profile may mimic the brand that you are looking for, but you'll often notice slight variations in text or logos.
These communications or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of certain authentic slimming injections, has increased recently, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can come at a serious monetary, health-related and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
As with all scams, the old adage holds true: if it appears overly advantageous, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications online. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to health.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to make their site or online profile look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm they are correctly licensed.
