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You've come across 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 festive season. However, the issue lies in cost.

Yet it appears alternatives exist rather than getting a prescription and going to the pharmacy. An SMS comes through giving a link to a site with much cheaper drugs – and requiring no necessity to go through official channels. You also noticed a comparable advertisement on social media the other day, prompting you to go for it.

The catch is such promotions are almost certainly scams. In the best-case scenario, you'll receive no product and lose any funds you spent. In the worst, you obtain a counterfeit item, containing unspecified components that could lead to severe health problems.

The popularity of legitimate slimming drugs has led to a rise in fake goods hitting the market and scams established to merely steal consumers' cash.

Health authorities have advised avoiding buying such unlawful slimming medications absent a doctor's order from aesthetic clinics, fake pharmacy websites or via digital platforms, saying they could contain “harmful substances and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.

Recent statistics from a high street bank reveal 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 related to slimming jabs, pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products during the third quarter , was more than double the overall amount stolen in the prior quarter. The average scam sets back sufferers £120, it says.

“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting individuals' self-doubts and medical worries, with such frauds skyrocketing in recent months,” says a bank’s head of fraud.

How It Appears

The majority take place on messaging apps and social media. Across platforms, an account may imitate the company that you seek, but there will typically be slight variations in spelling or brand marks.

The messages or updates will often use pressure-inducing language such as “time-sensitive deal”, “special promotion” or “complimentary gift”.

With the cost of some legitimate weight loss jabs, has increased recently, the scammers will set the cost of their “product” more cheaply.

“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can come at a significant monetary, medical and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.

What to do

As with all scams, the wise saying 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 only be obtained from a registered pharmacy using a prescription issued by a medical practitioner, it says. When procured from other sources, they can present significant dangers to wellbeing.

Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page appear completely genuine. Should they state to be an internet-based chemist based in Great Britain, it's possible to verify the website of the medicines oversight organisation to ensure they are properly registered.