Scammers' Fake Goods 'Could Cause Real Harm'

You've heard and read a great deal regarding the use of slimming jabs to get slim, it feels like the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the festive season. The problem is expense.

But it seems there are other options rather than getting a prescription and visiting the chemist. An SMS arrives giving a link to a website with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no necessity to go through official channels. And you saw 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. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent nothing and lose whatever money 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 entering circulation and deceptive practices set up to simply take people’s money.

Health authorities have warned against buying these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or through digital platforms, saying they could contain “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke genuine injury”.

New figures from a major retail bank reveal a significant surge in the number of clients who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through fraudulent activities involving slimming jabs, injector pens, pills and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter , was over twice the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, it says.

“Scammers are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in recent months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.

How It Appears

The majority occur on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, a profile may mimic the brand that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in spelling or brand marks.

The messages or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “limited-time offer”, “special promotion” or “free giveaway”.

As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “item” more cheaply.

“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can entail a significant monetary, health-related and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.

Recommended Actions

As with all scams, the old adage applies: if it appears overly advantageous, then it probably is.

Medical authorities have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines via the web. They should solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script issued by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose significant dangers to wellbeing.

Fraudsters can go to great lengths to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an online pharmacy based in Great Britain, you can check the website of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure they are properly registered.