🔗 Share this article

You've heard and read a great deal about people using slimming jabs to get slim, you feel it is time to try them out ahead of the festive season. However, the issue lies in expense.

But it seems there are other options rather than obtaining a doctor's script and visiting the chemist. An SMS comes through providing a URL to a site with more affordable drugs – and with no necessity to go through official channels. You also noticed a similar ad on online platforms recently, prompting you to go for it.

The catch is such promotions are almost certainly fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent nothing and lose whatever money you paid. In the worst, you obtain a fake version, containing unspecified components that could lead to serious medical issues.

The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams established to merely steal consumers' cash.

Health authorities have advised avoiding buying such unlawful slimming medications absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or via digital platforms, saying they could contain “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke genuine injury”.

Recent statistics from a high street bank reveal a significant surge in the number of clients who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the total sum stolen through fraudulent activities related to slimming jabs, injector pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter this year, was more than double the overall amount lost in the previous three months. Each incident typically sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.

“Scammers are actively exploiting individuals' self-doubts and health concerns, with these scams skyrocketing in the past few months,” notes a bank’s head of fraud.

How It Appears

The majority take place on communication platforms and social media. Across platforms, a profile may imitate the company that you are looking for, but there will typically be subtle differences in text or logos.

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

With the cost of some legitimate slimming injections, rose recently, the fraudsters will price their “product” lower.

“Buying from unapproved vendors online can entail a serious monetary, medical and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.

Recommended Actions

Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.

Health regulators have warned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications online. These products must only be obtained from a licensed chemist using a prescription provided by a medical practitioner, it says. 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, it's possible to verify the website of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure this is correctly licensed.