Scammers' Fake Goods 'Could Cause Serious Damage'
You have come across a great deal regarding the use of weight loss injections to get slim, you feel it is time to try them out in the run-up to the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. A text message arrives giving a link to a site with more affordable drugs – and with no need to go through proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on online platforms recently, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is these ads are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent nothing and forfeit any funds you paid. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in serious medical issues.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has led to a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams set up to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, stating they could contain “harmful substances and other ingredients which may provoke genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been affected by the scam. According to the bank, the total sum stolen through fraudulent activities related to weight loss injections, injector pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter this year, was over twice the total sum lost in the prior quarter. The average scam sets back sufferers ÂŁ120, reports indicate.
“Scammers are actively exploiting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds soaring in the past few months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
The majority take place on messaging apps and social media. Across platforms, an account may mimic the brand that you are looking for, but you'll often notice slight variations in text or logos.
These communications or posts will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of some legitimate slimming injections, has increased recently, the fraudsters will price their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a serious monetary, medical and emotional cost,” says the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying applies: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Medical authorities have warned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines via the web. These products must only be obtained from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, they can present 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 based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is correctly licensed.