You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to get slim, you feel it is time to give it a go ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears alternatives exist instead of getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a site with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no need to go through official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on online platforms the other day, prompting you to take the plunge.
The problem is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive nothing and forfeit any funds you spent. In the worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The popularity of authentic slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams established to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or through social media, saying they might include “harmful substances and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a major retail bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the total sum lost to fraudulent activities involving weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter , was more than double the overall amount stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, an account may imitate the company that you are looking for, but there will typically be slight variations in text or logos.
These communications or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of some legitimate weight loss jabs, has increased recently, the fraudsters will price their “product” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can entail a serious financial, health-related and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. These products must only be obtained from a licensed chemist with a valid script provided by a medical practitioner, they advise. When procured from other sources, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to design their webpage 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 website of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure they are properly registered.
