Fraudsters' Counterfeit Goods 'May Lead to Real Harm'
You've heard and read so much regarding the use of weight loss injections to get slim, you feel it is time to give it a go ahead of the holiday period. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than obtaining a doctor's script and going to the pharmacy. A text message comes through providing a URL to a website with much cheaper drugs – and with no necessity to navigate official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.
The catch is these ads are highly likely to be scams. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent nothing and lose whatever money you spent. In the worst, you receive a fake version, containing unspecified components that could lead to severe health problems.
The popularity of authentic weight loss medications has led to a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and scams set up to merely steal consumers' cash.
Medical regulators have warned against buying such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via social media, saying they could contain “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the amount of money stolen through scams involving weight loss injections, injector pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter , was more than double the total sum lost in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, reports indicate.
“Fraudsters are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and health concerns, with such frauds skyrocketing in recent months,” notes a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, an account may imitate the company that you seek, but there will typically be subtle differences in text or brand marks.
The messages or updates will frequently use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose of late, the scammers will price their “product” more cheaply.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors on the internet can come at a serious financial, medical and emotional cost,” says the fraud expert.
What to do
Like any deceptive scheme, the old adage 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 via the web. They should solely be acquired from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they may pose serious risks to health.
Fraudsters can expend considerable effort to make their site or online profile look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist located within the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure they are correctly licensed.
