You've come across so much about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel it is time to try them out ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in expense.
But it seems there are other options rather than getting a prescription and going to the chemist. A text message arrives providing a URL to a site with much cheaper medication – and with no need to go through proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on social media recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
The problem is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and lose whatever money you spent. At worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and deceptive practices established to merely steal consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying such unlawful slimming medications without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, saying they might include “harmful substances and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the number of clients who have been affected by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through fraudulent activities related to slimming jabs, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter , was more than double the overall amount stolen in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams soaring in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
The majority occur on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, an account may imitate the company that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or posts will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic slimming injections, rose recently, the fraudsters will price their “product” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can entail a significant monetary, health-related and psychological toll,” says the security specialist.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: if it appears overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications online. These products must solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script provided by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an online pharmacy located within Great Britain, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is correctly licensed.
