You've come across so much about people using weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel it is time to give it a go ahead of the holiday period. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and going to the pharmacy. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a site with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to go through official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on social media recently, so you decide to go for it.
The problem is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent no product and lose any funds you spent. In the worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a rise in fake goods hitting the market and deceptive practices established to simply take people’s money.
Health authorities have warned against purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via social media, saying they could contain “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money lost to fraudulent activities involving weight loss injections, pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was over twice the overall amount stolen in the previous three months. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with such frauds skyrocketing in recent months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on communication platforms and social networks. On socials, a profile may imitate the company that you seek, but there will typically be subtle differences in spelling or logos.
The messages or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of some legitimate slimming injections, rose recently, the scammers will price their “product” lower.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors on the internet can entail a significant financial, health-related and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the old adage holds true: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines via the web. These products must only be obtained from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose significant dangers to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to design their webpage or social media page look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist based in the UK, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is correctly licensed.
