You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of weight loss injections to get slim, it feels like the moment has come to try them out ahead of the holiday period. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. A text message arrives giving a link to a site with much cheaper drugs – and with no need to go through proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media recently, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent 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 widespread use of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a increase in fake goods hitting the market and deceptive practices set up to merely steal consumers' cash.
Health authorities have advised avoiding purchasing such unlawful weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or through social media, saying they could contain “harmful substances 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 affected by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money lost to fraudulent activities involving weight loss injections, pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter , was over twice the total sum lost in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with these scams soaring in recent months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most occur on messaging apps and social media. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the brand that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in text or logos.
These communications or posts will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose recently, the scammers will price their “product” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a significant monetary, medical and emotional cost,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. They should solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription issued by a healthcare professional, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they can present significant dangers to health.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm they are properly registered.
