Fraudsters' Fake Products 'May Lead to Serious Damage'
You have heard and read so much regarding the use of weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the festive season. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and going to the pharmacy. An SMS arrives providing a URL to a site with much cheaper medication – and requiring no necessity to navigate official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.
The problem is these ads are highly likely to be scams. At best, you will be sent no product and lose whatever money you paid. In the worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in serious medical issues.
The widespread use of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices set up to merely steal people’s money.
Health authorities have advised avoiding buying such unlawful slimming medications without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through social media, stating they might include “harmful substances and other ingredients that could cause genuine injury”.
New figures from a major retail bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the total sum stolen through scams related to weight loss injections, pens, pills and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was over twice the overall amount stolen in the previous three months. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with these scams soaring in recent months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social media. On socials, an account may mimic the brand that you are looking for, but there will typically be subtle differences in spelling or logos.
The messages or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a significant financial, health-related and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: should something seem overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Health regulators have warned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines via the web. They should solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, they advise. If sourced elsewhere, 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. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is correctly licensed.
