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You've heard and read a great deal about people using weight loss injections to lose weight, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the holiday period. However, the issue lies in cost.

But it seems there are other options rather than getting a prescription and going to the chemist. An SMS arrives giving a link to a site with more affordable drugs – and requiring no need to go through official channels. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media recently, prompting you to go for it.

The catch is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. At best, you'll receive nothing and lose whatever money you paid. In the worst, you receive a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components which may result in severe health problems.

The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has resulted in a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams set up to simply take consumers' cash.

Health authorities have advised avoiding buying these illegal weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, bogus online chemists or through social media, stating they could contain “harmful substances and additional components that could cause real harm”.

Recent statistics from a high street bank show a sharp rise in the quantity of customers who have been impacted by the scam. The bank says, the total sum lost to fraudulent activities involving weight loss injections, pens, pills and lipid-reducing solutions during the third quarter this year, was more than double the total sum stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, reports indicate.

“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. On socials, a profile may mimic the brand that you seek, but you'll often notice slight variations in text or brand marks.

The messages or updates will often use urgency-laden phrases such as “limited-time offer”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.

With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, rose recently, the scammers will price their “product” more cheaply.

“Buying from unapproved vendors online can entail a serious financial, health-related and emotional cost,” warns the fraud expert.

Recommended Actions

As with all scams, the wise saying applies: if it appears too good to be true, it likely isn't genuine.

Health regulators have warned people to be extremely cautious when purchasing medications online. They should solely be acquired from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a medical practitioner, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present significant dangers to wellbeing.

Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or online profile appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to confirm this is correctly licensed.