New year, new you! Getting healthy is a popular resolution and to meet goals, some people may turn to weight-loss drugs for help. As certain weight-loss drugs have become increasingly popular, scammers are taking notice and coming out of the woodwork to cash in on trends.
Let ABC15 Know viewer Cecilia reached out to us saying she paid $119 to a company she found online that promised a pill form of Ozempic. The website stated there was a money-back guarantee. Cecilia says the pills she received didn't work. She wanted a refund.
Cecilia says she repeatedly reached out to the company, only to be told a check was being mailed. When she didn't receive the funds, she Let ABC15 Know. Our Better Business Bureau volunteer team got involved on Cecelia's behalf. They were also told a check was "being mailed."
Weeks later, the company's website went dark. Instead of the website, what appears when typing in the URL is a warning stating: Attackers might be trying to steal your information. Talk about a red flag!
Fortunately, Cecelia paid with a credit card and is working to get her money back that way.
Scammers often create websites that look legitimate to cash in on trends - like weight-loss drugs. The websites may mimic real companies and offer medications at big discounts. They'll take your money and mail out things like allergy medicine, saline solution, or nothing at all. Then the website disappears.
Scammers may also put up phishing ads on legitimate websites hoping you'll click or post videos on social media posing as doctors and pharmacists often based outside of the U.S. offering "miraculous" new products.
In each situation, the goal is to get victims' financial and personal information.
The issue is so big, that the Federal Trade Commission is issuing a warning and encouraging consumers to report suspicious sites. The Federal Drug Administration is also involved, issuing warning letters to internet pharmacies and websites suspected of illegal activities.
Not only is your personal and financial information at risk with these scams, but also your health! Taking counterfeit drugs or medications where you aren't sure what is in them is dangerous and could even be deadly.
Protect yourself and help avoid prescription and weight-loss drug scams by doing the following:
- Be wary of sellers who don't ask to see a prescription for a prescription-only medication.
- Don't buy medicines from foreign countries.
- Be cautious if a pharmacy - especially a foreign one - is not licensed through your state. Verify status, licenses, and permits in Arizona online.
- Question if a seller only accepts cash, Cash App, Zelle, or non-traditional payment forms.
- Stop if a seller only wants to communicate via a messaging app.
- Watch out for unreasonably low prices.
Read the full FDA statement and see the department's suggested resources for reporting issues below:
Patients may turn to online pharmacies because of convenience and cost savings, which may be beneficial, provided that these pharmacies follow applicable laws and are licensed and overseen by the state authorities. When a consumer purchases drugs online and the website does not provide information on where the drug is made, consumers cannot do their due diligence and have no information about what they are getting. Those websites can appear to be legitimate online pharmacies, but they are actually operating illegally and selling medicines that can be dangerous, or even deadly. This is because the products, although being marketed as authentic, may in fact be counterfeit drugs, which are illegal and could contain the wrong ingredients, other harmful ingredients, or contain too little, too much, or no active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) at all.
The API is what makes the medicine effective for the illness or condition it is intended to treat. If a medicine has unknown active ingredients, it could fail to have the intended effect, could have an unexpected interaction with other medicines a patient is taking, or could cause dangerous side effects. This all has potential to cause serious harm. FDA’s BeSafeRx campaign provides tools to help patients safely buy drugs online.
If a patient has an unexpected side effect associated with the use of a medicine or if there is a product quality problem, it should be reported to FDA through Medwatch. If the public encounters websites that they think may be selling counterfeit products, that can also be reported to FDA through our website.
Any report of suspect counterfeit drugs is investigated to determine the public health risks and what is an appropriate legal and regulatory response. We vigilantly monitor the internet for fraudulent or unapproved products and have issued warning letters to stop the distribution of illegally marketed semaglutide and tirzepatide. The FDA has issued warning letters to internet pharmacies for illegal activities, including those that are offering prescription drugs without a prescription, without FDA-required warnings to consumers about serious health risks, and without adequate directions for safe use, as well as offering for sale unapproved prescription drugs of unknown origin, safety, and effectiveness.
If the FDA believes there is a violation of federal law, including offering the sale of an unapproved or misbranded drug, the FDA may seek compliance by sending a warning letter informing the website operator they are engaged in illegal activity. If needed, the FDA works with our federal law enforcement partners to take enforcement actions such as seizures, injunctions, or criminal prosecutions.
