Scammers' Fake Goods 'May Lead to Serious Damage'
You've heard and read a great deal about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the festive season. The problem is expense.
But it seems alternatives exist rather than obtaining a doctor's script and going to the pharmacy. An SMS comes through giving a link to a website with more affordable drugs – and requiring no necessity to go through proper procedures. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on online platforms the other day, prompting you to take the plunge.
The catch is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent no product and forfeit any funds you paid. At worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components that could lead to serious medical issues.
The popularity of authentic slimming drugs has resulted in a increase in fake goods entering circulation and scams established to merely steal consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have warned against buying such unlawful weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via social media, saying they might include “harmful substances and additional components which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank show a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the scam. According to the bank, the total sum lost to scams involving weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September this year, was more than double the total sum stolen in the previous three months. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, it says.
“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in recent months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
Most take place on communication platforms and social networks. On socials, an account may imitate the company that you seek, but you'll often notice subtle differences in spelling or logos.
The messages or posts will often 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 “product” more cheaply.
“Buying from unapproved vendors online can entail a significant financial, health-related and psychological toll,” says the security specialist.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage holds true: should something seem too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Health regulators have warned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines online. These products must only be obtained from a licensed chemist using a prescription issued by a healthcare professional, they advise. When procured from other sources, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to make their site or social media page look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an online pharmacy located within Great Britain, you can check the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm this is properly registered.
