You've come across so much about people using weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the holiday period. The problem is expense.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and going to the chemist. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a website with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to navigate official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, prompting you to take the plunge.
The problem is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive nothing and lose whatever money you paid. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components which may result in severe health problems.
The widespread use of legitimate weight loss medications has led to a increase in counterfeit products entering circulation and deceptive practices set up to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have warned against purchasing such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through social media, saying they could contain “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank show a significant surge in the number of customers who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money lost to scams related to weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was over twice the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are actively exploiting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority take place on communication platforms and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the company that you seek, but you'll often notice subtle differences in text or logos.
The messages or posts will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” lower.
“Buying from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a serious monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
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 warned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. They should solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script provided by a healthcare professional, they advise. When procured from other sources, they can present significant dangers to health.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or online profile appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist located within Great Britain, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm this is correctly licensed.
