Con Watch: A Whole New Generation of Weight Loss Scams

Steve Weisman is a lawyer, college professor, author, and one of the country’s leading experts in cybersecurity, identity theft, and scams. See Steve’s other Con Watch articles.

It certainly comes as no surprise that there is a problem with obesity in the United States. According to the CDC, 41.9 percent of American adults are obese and 31.7 percent of adults are overweight. Obesity can lead to a wide variety of diseases. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study concluded that obesity can shorten life expectancy by as much as 14 years. Yet, many people have had difficulty losing weight through the usual diet and exercise regimen. So when the pharmaceutical companies developed the prescription drug Semaglutide, which has shown to be effective for weight loss, demand skyrocketed.

Unfortunately, the demand for Semaglutide (which is sold under several brand names, including Ozempic and Wegovy) has led to low supply, even at a cost of around $1,000-$1,400 per month if it is not covered by insurance. As a result, scammers are using social media, phishing emails, and phony online pharmacy websites to sell worthless fake Semaglutide (often marketed as generic Semaglutide) to unsuspecting victims.

No generic form of the drug has been approved by the FDA, and any Semaglutide medication requires a doctor’s prescription. Any online pharmacy that promises to sell you prescription drugs without a prescription is a scam, plain and simple.

Despite these facts, people are desperate to lose weight quickly and cheaply, which makes them vulnerable to getting duped online. Fraudsters use social media such as Facebook and TikTok where they represent that they are physicians or pharmacies offering Semaglutide. These sellers are likely not even real people or places, but rather fakes created through Artificial Intelligence.

The security software company McAfee recently issued a report in which they found 176,871 phishing attempts and 449 risky pharmacy websites related to selling phony Semaglutide just between January and April. Scammers also used fake profiles on Facebook and advertisements on legitimate websites to sell their counterfeit or Semaglutide. Often the scammers will try to appear to be Canadian pharmacies.

What people are receiving from these fake pharmacies may be non-existent, ineffectual, or even harmful. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy has a list of thousands of websites selling fraudulent and unsafe medications.

Before even considering buying a prescription drug online, you should see if the site you are considering is legitimate. In many instances, the scammers ask for payment through cryptocurrencies, gift cards, Zelle, and Venmo. Crooks prefer these payment methods because of the anonymity and difficulty in stopping the payments. Legitimate businesses do not demand payment in this manner. (Some websites may appear to offer the option to pay by credit card, but that option always results in an error.)

If you are ordering prescription drugs from Canada, make sure that you are dealing with a legitimate Canadian pharmacy that requires a prescription from an American doctor. (Although it is still technically illegal to purchase prescription drugs from Canada either directly or over the internet, federal officials generally do not get involved with prescription drug shipments for personal consumption.)

As with anything else you purchase online, if the price seems too good to be true, you should be skeptical. Semaglutide offered for an extremely low price is a scam.

Services such as the free Google Transparency Report can help you recognize a scam website, and some security software — both free and paid versions — verifies the legitimacy of websites. In addition, you can use ICANN to confirm who actually owns a particular website and how long the website has been in existence, which can help identify scam websites.

Ultimately, when it comes to losing weight, consulting with your physician is always a good place to start.