Fraudsters' Fake Products 'May Lead to Serious Damage'
You've come across a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to get slim, it feels like the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the pharmacy. A text message comes through providing a URL to a website with much cheaper drugs – and with no need to navigate proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on online platforms the other day, prompting you to take the plunge.
The catch is these ads are almost certainly scams. At best, you will be sent no product and lose whatever money you spent. In the worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The widespread use of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in fake goods hitting the market and scams set up to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, stating they could contain “toxins and additional components which may provoke genuine injury”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank reveal a significant surge in the number of clients who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money lost to fraudulent activities involving weight loss injections, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was over twice the overall amount stolen in the prior quarter. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with such frauds soaring in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the company that you are looking for, but there will typically be subtle differences in text or brand marks.
The messages or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose of late, the fraudsters will price their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can come at a serious monetary, medical and emotional cost,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage holds true: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. They should only be obtained from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose significant dangers to health.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist based in the UK, it's possible to verify the website of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure they are correctly licensed.
