Scammers' Counterfeit Goods 'May Lead to Serious Damage'
You've come across so much about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel it is time to give it a go ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in expense.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the pharmacy. A text message comes through giving a link to a website with more affordable drugs – and requiring no necessity to navigate official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on social media recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be scams. At best, you will be sent nothing and lose any funds you paid. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has led to a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and deceptive practices established to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through social media, saying they might include “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke genuine injury”.
Recent statistics from a high street bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the fraud. According to the bank, the amount of money stolen through fraudulent activities related to weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter , was more than double the total sum lost in the prior quarter. Each incident typically costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds soaring in recent months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
What it looks like
Most take place on communication platforms and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the company that you are looking for, but you'll often notice slight variations in spelling or logos.
The messages or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “limited-time offer”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased of late, the scammers will set the cost of their “item” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors on the internet can entail a serious financial, health-related and emotional cost,” says the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when buying medicines online. These products must 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 serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist located within Great Britain, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure they are correctly licensed.
