You have come across a great deal about people using slimming jabs to get slim, you feel the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in expense.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a site with more affordable medication – and with no necessity to navigate proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on online platforms recently, prompting you to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent no product and lose any funds you spent. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in serious medical issues.
The widespread use of authentic slimming drugs has led to a rise in fake goods hitting the market and scams established to simply take consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding buying such unlawful weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, saying they might include “harmful substances and additional components that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the number of clients who have been affected by the scam. The bank says, the total sum lost to scams involving weight loss injections, pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products between July and September , was over twice the overall amount lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in recent months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
Most take place on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the brand that you seek, but there will typically be subtle differences in text or brand marks.
The messages or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased recently, the fraudsters will price their “product” lower.
“Buying from unverified sellers online can come at a serious monetary, medical and emotional cost,” says the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: if it appears overly advantageous, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have warned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines via the web. They should solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription issued by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present significant dangers to health.
Criminals can go to great lengths to make their site or online profile look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist located within Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is correctly licensed.
