Scammers' Fake Products 'May Lead to Serious Damage'
You have come across so much about people using weight loss injections to lose weight, it feels like the moment has come to try them out in the run-up to the holiday period. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of obtaining a doctor's script and going to the chemist. An SMS comes through giving a link to a site with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to go through proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on online platforms the other day, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be scams. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent nothing and lose whatever money you spent. In the worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The widespread use of authentic weight loss medications has led to a increase in counterfeit products entering circulation and deceptive practices established to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing such unlawful weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, saying they might include “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank show a significant surge in the number of customers who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the total sum lost to scams related to slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was more than double the overall amount stolen in the prior quarter. Each incident typically costs victims ÂŁ120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams soaring in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most occur on messaging apps and social media. On socials, an account may mimic the company that you seek, but there will typically be 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”.
With the cost of some legitimate slimming injections, has increased recently, the fraudsters will price their “item” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can come at a serious monetary, medical and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
As with all scams, 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 highly vigilant when purchasing medications online. They should solely be acquired from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a healthcare professional, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose significant dangers to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in the UK, it's possible to verify the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure they are properly registered.
