You've heard and read so much regarding the use of slimming jabs to get slim, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the festive season. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS comes through providing a URL to a website with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to go through proper procedures. You also noticed a similar ad on social media recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is these ads are almost certainly scams. At best, you'll receive no product and forfeit whatever money you paid. In the worst, you obtain a fake version, containing unspecified components that could lead to serious medical issues.
The popularity of authentic slimming drugs has led to a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and deceptive practices set up to merely steal consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, saying they might include “toxins and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the fraud. The bank says, the total sum lost to scams involving weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter this year, was over twice the total sum stolen in the previous three months. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with such frauds soaring in the past few months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social networks. On socials, a profile may imitate the brand that you are looking for, but there will typically be subtle differences in text or logos.
These communications or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a significant financial, health-related and emotional cost,” says the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
As with all scams, the old adage holds true: if it appears overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines via the web. These products must solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script issued by a healthcare professional, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist located within Great Britain, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is correctly licensed.
