Fraudsters' Fake Goods 'May Lead to Serious Damage'
You have heard and read a great deal regarding the use of weight loss injections to get slim, you feel the moment has come to give it a go in the run-up to the festive season. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of obtaining a doctor's script and going to the chemist. A text message comes through providing a URL to a site with more affordable medication – and with no necessity to go through proper procedures. And you saw a comparable advertisement on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.
The problem is such promotions are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent nothing and lose whatever money you spent. At worst, you obtain a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in serious medical issues.
The widespread use of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams set up to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against buying these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, saying they might include “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a significant surge in the quantity of clients who have been affected by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through scams related to slimming jabs, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was more than double the overall amount lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with such frauds soaring in recent months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority take place on messaging apps and social media. Across platforms, an account may mimic the company that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in text or brand marks.
The messages or posts will often use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic slimming injections, has increased recently, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can come at a serious monetary, medical and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have warned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications via the web. These products must solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script provided by a healthcare professional, 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 social media page look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an online pharmacy located within Great Britain, it's possible to verify the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is properly registered.
