Scammers' Counterfeit Products 'Could Cause Serious Damage'
You have heard and read so much regarding the use of slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel it is time to try them out ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.
Yet it appears there are other options instead of getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. An SMS arrives giving a link to a website with more affordable medication – and with no necessity to go through proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on social media recently, prompting you to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be scams. At best, you'll receive no product and forfeit any funds you spent. At worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of authentic weight loss medications has resulted in a increase in counterfeit products hitting the market and deceptive practices set up to merely steal people’s money.
Health authorities have warned against buying such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or via social media, stating they might include “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke genuine injury”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the scam. According to the bank, the amount of money stolen through fraudulent activities related to weight loss injections, pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter this year, was more than double the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority take place on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or updates 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 of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a significant financial, health-related and psychological toll,” says the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: should something seem overly advantageous, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have warned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications online. They should solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, they advise. When procured from other sources, they may pose serious risks to health.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist located within the UK, you can check the website of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is properly registered.
