You've come across a great deal about people using slimming jabs to get slim, you feel it is time to try them out ahead of the holiday period. The problem is expense.
But it seems alternatives exist instead of getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS comes through giving a link to a website with more affordable drugs – and with no necessity to go through proper procedures. You also noticed a similar ad on social media recently, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly scams. At best, you'll receive nothing and lose whatever money you paid. In the worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has led to a rise in fake goods hitting the market and scams set up to simply take consumers' cash.
Health authorities have warned against purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through social media, saying they might include “harmful substances and other ingredients that could cause real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum stolen through fraudulent activities related to weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , 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 soaring in the past few months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
What it looks like
The majority take place on messaging apps and social media. On socials, a profile may mimic the company that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or logos.
These communications or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of some legitimate weight loss jabs, rose recently, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can entail a serious monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” says the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. They should only be obtained from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to health.
Criminals can go to great lengths to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm they are properly registered.
