Medical scams

In some frauds, online pharmacies offer medicines at a low price to buyers without a prescription. If you get the products, there is no guarantee to get the authentic items, and in case you suffer a side effect or health issue, you may not be able to claim reimbursement or compensation for your loss. 

You are promised to get a miracle cure for your medical condition. The scammer makes the victim believe they will get a product or a service against the payment, and the products are often offered for a huge discount, sometimes to selected clients. 

The medicines promise to provide rare cures for lifetime health issues like arthritis, baldness, acne, body weight, etc. 

If you buy any such options, you do not know the composition, as the authentic composition of the tablets or cures is not given. 

Therefore, if any customer faces a health issue, they may not inform their doctors that they are facing it due to the intake of harmful medicines they ordered online. Moreover, such con websites do not have any medical board to discuss the problem with other experts.

In many conditions, the victim will be left out of pocket, and it can be an expensive loss because the seller’s identity is often hidden, but they get access to your bank details, which they can use to conduct counterfeit deals. 

How To Spot It?

• If you buy items that claim to get you a miracle cure for unconventional medical problems. 

• If you buy healthcare products with the same brand name, but the items are offered at a very low price.

• If they offer a no-risk money-back guarantee, they disappear when you try to contact them to get the money back. 

• They endorse bogus health officials who are not affiliated with any recognised institution and cannot be trusted. 

• The sites offering alternative medicines may appear legitimate, but one can order products without a prescription. Check different reviews and testimonials of such sites at approved websites having authentic buyers.

• If you have suffered health problems due to such cures, report them to the regulatory agencies.

If You Are a Victim -

• If there is any dispute over the quality or brand name, ask the website to send a detailed description or seek a refund.

• Always keep all the evidence of buying, particularly if you have paid through a credit card. In that case, if you find any issue, you can reverse the payment. 

• Contact your GP and seek advice about the cures you ordered/ are ordering online.

• Any reputable pharmacy must know the client is eligible for a cure. The registered organisations ask questions from the patient and seek a prescription from a reputed medical practitioner to offer a cure. They sometimes offer online consultations before selling the cure to the patient. 

• You can check the website to find the address and location of the pharmacy to spot it on the map to be in a position to contact it directly in case of a health problem. 

• Always ask for registration details of the pharmacy before ordering any product. 

How To Protect Yourself?

• It would be best if you were careful before ordering any product online. Seek advice from your local practitioners to know whether the medicine will help cure the problem. Many websites offer bogus products online and the best advice to avoid it.

• Never stop the prescribed medicines; do not take a new cure without consulting an expert.

• Do not trust the ads that promise breakthrough results. Most such products are unapproved and untested.

• If you are offered testimonials of customers from the same website, it cannot be trusted. Instead, it would be best to search for reviews or testimonials at reliable forums to find out the effectiveness of the medicine.   

How To Avoid a Loss?                             

• Never pay to such sites through money transfers. In addition, it is not safe to give details of bank accounts to them.

• Be careful while using direct banking transactions to pay for the items you buy. Always use secure connections.

• Do not provide confidential details to the online site. 

• Most authorised websites are offered a logo by the authorities that guarantee them. However, only bona fide pharmacies are entitled to display the logo. One can verify the logo to recognise reliable offers.