Fraudsters' Fake Products 'May Lead to Serious Damage'
You've come across a great deal regarding the use of weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to give it a go in the run-up to the festive season. The problem is expense.
But it seems there are other options instead of getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. A text message arrives giving a link to a website with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no need to navigate proper procedures. And you saw a comparable advertisement on online platforms the other day, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is these ads are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and forfeit whatever money you spent. In the worst, you receive a fake version, containing unspecified components which may result in severe health problems.
The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a increase in fake goods hitting the market and deceptive practices established to simply take consumers' cash.
Health authorities have advised avoiding buying such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, saying they might include “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke genuine injury”.
New figures from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the number of clients who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money lost to scams related to slimming jabs, pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was over twice the total sum lost in the prior quarter. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with such frauds soaring in recent months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social networks. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the company that you are looking for, but you'll often notice slight variations in text or brand marks.
These communications or posts will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” lower.
“Purchasing from unverified sellers on the internet can come at a significant monetary, medical and emotional cost,” warns the security specialist.
What to do
As with all scams, the wise saying applies: if it appears overly advantageous, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications online. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present significant dangers to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist located within Great Britain, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm this is correctly licensed.
