You've come across a great deal about people using weight loss injections to get slim, you feel it is time to give it a go ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the pharmacy. A text message comes through giving a link to a site with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no necessity to go through official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on social media recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
The problem is such promotions are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and lose any funds you paid. In the worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in fake goods entering circulation and scams established to merely steal consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, stating they could contain “toxins and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. According to the bank, the amount of money stolen through scams involving slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was over twice the overall amount stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds soaring in the past few months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
Most take place on communication platforms and social networks. On socials, an account may mimic the company that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in text or logos.
These communications or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose of late, the scammers will price their “product” lower.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a serious financial, health-related and psychological toll,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: should something seem overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have warned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. They should solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose significant dangers to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to design their webpage or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is correctly licensed.
