You've heard and read a great deal about people using slimming jabs to get slim, it feels like it is time to give it a go ahead of the festive season. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the pharmacy. A text message arrives giving a link to a site with more affordable drugs – and with no necessity to navigate proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media recently, so you decide to go for it.
The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive no product and lose whatever money you paid. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, with unknown ingredients that could lead to severe health problems.
The widespread use of authentic slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in fake goods hitting the market and scams established to merely steal people’s money.
Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal slimming medications absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via digital platforms, stating they could contain “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank show a significant surge in the quantity of clients who have been affected by the scam. According to the bank, the amount of money lost to scams involving slimming jabs, pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter , was over twice the overall amount stolen in the previous three months. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with these scams 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 networks. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the company that you are looking for, but there will typically be subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.
These communications or posts will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of some legitimate slimming injections, has increased of late, the fraudsters will price their “item” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors on the internet can entail a serious financial, health-related and emotional cost,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying holds true: should something seem too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications online. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to health.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist located within the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is correctly licensed.
