🔗 Share this article

You have come across a great deal about people using slimming jabs to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to give it a go ahead of the festive season. The problem is expense.

But it seems alternatives exist instead of getting a prescription and going to the chemist. An SMS comes through providing a URL to a site with much cheaper medication – and with no need to go through official channels. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.

The problem is these ads are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you will be sent no product 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 slimming drugs has led to a rise in counterfeit products hitting the market and deceptive practices set up to simply take people’s money.

Medical regulators have advised avoiding purchasing these illegal weight loss medicines without a prescription from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or via digital platforms, stating they might include “toxins and additional components which may provoke genuine injury”.

New figures from a high street bank reveal a significant surge in the quantity of customers who have been affected by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money lost to scams related to weight loss injections, injector pens, pills 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, reports indicate.

“Scammers are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with such frauds soaring in recent months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.

How It Appears

Most occur on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, an account may mimic the brand that you are looking for, but you'll often notice subtle differences in spelling or brand marks.

These communications or posts will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “free giveaway”.

As the price of certain authentic slimming injections, has increased recently, the fraudsters will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.

“Buying from unapproved vendors online can entail a serious monetary, medical and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.

What to do

As with all scams, the old adage applies: if it appears overly advantageous, it likely isn't genuine.

Health regulators have cautioned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications via the web. These products must solely be acquired from a registered pharmacy with a valid script provided by a healthcare professional, it says. When procured from other sources, they may pose serious risks to wellbeing.

Criminals can go to great lengths to design their webpage or social media page look as authentic as possible. If they claim to be an internet-based chemist based in the UK, you can check the online portal of the medicines oversight organisation to confirm this is correctly licensed.