Fraudsters' Counterfeit Goods 'May Lead to Serious Damage'
You've heard and read a great deal about people using weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the festive season. The problem is expense.
Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the chemist. An SMS arrives giving a link to a website with more affordable medication – and with no necessity to navigate proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on online platforms recently, so you decide to take the plunge.
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 spent. In the worst, you receive a fake version, with unknown ingredients which may result in severe health problems.
The widespread use of authentic weight loss medications has led to a rise in fake goods entering circulation and deceptive practices established to simply take people’s money.
Medical regulators have warned against purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or through digital platforms, saying they might include “harmful substances and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the fraud. According to the bank, the amount of money stolen through scams involving weight loss injections, injector pens, tablets and lipid-reducing solutions between July and September , was over twice the overall amount lost in the prior quarter. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Scammers are actively exploiting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in the past few months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.
What it looks like
Most occur on communication platforms and social media. On socials, an account may mimic the company that you are looking for, but you'll often notice subtle differences in text or brand marks.
The messages or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
As the price of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose recently, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.
“Buying from unverified sellers on the internet can entail a serious financial, medical and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying holds true: if it appears too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.
Medical authorities have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when buying medicines online. They should only be obtained from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present serious risks to wellbeing.
Fraudsters can go to great lengths to make their site or online profile appear completely genuine. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist located within the UK, you can check the website of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is properly registered.
