Scammers' Fake Products 'May Lead to Serious Damage'
You have come across a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, it feels like the moment has come to try them out ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and going to the pharmacy. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a website with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to go through proper procedures. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent nothing and forfeit any funds you spent. At worst, you receive a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components which may result in serious medical issues.
The widespread use of legitimate weight loss medications has led to a increase in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices set up to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying these illegal slimming medications absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or through social media, stating they might include “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 impacted by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through scams related to slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September , was over twice the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with these scams soaring in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
The majority occur on messaging apps and social media. Across platforms, an account may mimic the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice subtle differences in text or logos.
The messages or updates will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “limited-time offer”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate weight loss jabs, rose recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a serious monetary, medical and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. These products must only be obtained from a registered pharmacy with a valid script provided by a healthcare professional, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose significant dangers to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, you can check the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm this is correctly licensed.
