You've come across a great deal about people using weight loss injections to get slim, it feels like the moment has come to try them out ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. A text message comes through providing a URL to a site with more affordable medication – and requiring no necessity to navigate official channels. And you saw a comparable advertisement on online platforms recently, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent nothing and forfeit any funds you spent. In the worst, you receive a fake version, containing unspecified components which may result in serious medical issues.
The popularity of authentic slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams established to merely steal consumers' cash.
Health authorities have warned against buying these illegal slimming medications absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or through digital platforms, saying they might include “toxins and other ingredients that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the scam. The bank says, the total sum lost to scams related to slimming jabs, pens, pills and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter this year, was more than double the overall amount lost in the prior quarter. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams soaring in recent months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on messaging apps and social media. Across platforms, a profile 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 urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of some legitimate slimming injections, rose of late, the scammers will price their “product” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can come at a serious financial, health-related and emotional cost,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Medical authorities have warned people to be extremely cautious 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. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can go to great lengths to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist based in Great Britain, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm this is correctly licensed.
