Daily Record finds rampant selling of dodgy Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy – and sellers cloning the content of ethical, regulated Scottish pharmacists.
TikTok cloners are putting lives at risk by selling dodgy “fat jabs”. A Daily Record investigation found that faceless crooks are cloning sites of reputable online pharmacies .
Using material prepared by ethical and regulated sellers, the scammers are selling versions of Mounjaro, Wegovy and Ozempic that are suspected of being fake – and dangerous. Leading Scottish pharmacist Sehar Shahid, a director of the National Pharmacy Association, has warned that reputable pharmacies are now under attack from a tidal wave of fake sellers on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.
She also warns of a flood of illegal sales being carried out by nail bars, beauticians and personal trainers. Paisley-based Shahid was stunned recently to discover that her own promo videos her own videos – which promote ethical, safe and regulated treatments – are being hijacked by crooks who are illegally flogging treatments.
Despite Shahid’s complaints to the social media platform about the illegal cloning, they refused to ban the account until the Daily Record stepped in. Shahid said: “I cannot overstate the extent of the illegal activity and the dangers that exist for people who are really quite vulnerable.
“The videos I have produced are designed to help people and to steer them away from the illegal and unethical sellers. So I was furious when I saw those very people were stealing my video content and using it to target people on Tik Tok.”
Shahid’s own identity was effectively cloned by counterfeiters, who created a very similar Tik Tok identity to her own, setting up a mail order service. Her own TikTok identity is @24hrpharmacy.co.uk – but the counterfeiters set up a copycat with handle @24hronlinepharmacy – using her face to sell their dodgy wares.
She said: “These people are using my videos, using my company name, my logo printing. I’ve had to report them, and that’s really, really stressful, because they’re putting patients at harm and patients are going to think I am behind this shady practice.
“Tik Tok do nothing – they allow these fakers to trade off my name and sell potentially highly dangerous chemicals to people, who think they are in safe hands. I’ve had big online pharmacies contact me to say the same thing is happening to them, this cloning of websites, and it’s rife.”
She added: “These fake websites look legit and some of them even copy my registration number. Patients should be able to click that registration and take you to the register’s website but it doesn’t connect anywhere. It’s just a big scam.”
Shahid said the dodgy sites looks quite professional but her videos are mixed in with tacky films that feature pop music and boxes of syringes and medications – and selling at suspicious discount prices. Facebook, TikTok and Instagram have previously been found to be awash with dodgy and dangerous supplies of fake Mounjaro and Ozempic, which are being taken by desperate buyers, with no safety checks on their health being carried out.
And a recent survey found one in 10 Brits say they would buy them from platforms such as Facebook and TikTok if they could not get a prescription from their doctor or pharmacy. Shahid said: “The willingness of people to go to unregulated providers is a big problem and is bringing lots of dangers.
“The nature of these treatments means that people can be become quite desperate. They have maybe struggled with being overweight for a long time and they can see a solution – but there are people so many people out there who are willing to exploit them.
“We are now seeing it coming from all directions. From Facebook and Tik Tok and now even nail bars and gyms. We are seeing it a lot through beauticians and personal trainers, who are meddling with people’s lives.
“They are selling what they think is weight loss medication – but it’s actually not. And it’s really, really worrying, because that’s when patients end up becoming quite ill and in hospital, and then there’s also been patient deaths as well.”
Shahid, whose start-up firm Online Pharmacy has won business awards, said the big danger comes from the lack of regulation one people who are not authorised prescribers, like doctors, pharmacists and prescribing nurses. She said: “It’s hard to imagine the scale of it, given these are prescription medicines. It really is out of control.
“Treatments like Mounjaro and Ozempic should only be prescribed after clinical consultations been done and by somebody that’s trained in that field and registered. Ultimately, if something was to go wrong with a registered pharmacist, like myself, prescribing inappropriately there would be consequences for that because I’m regulated.
“But if a beautician sells someone something off the black market and causes harm to a patient there they have no consequences of that because they’re not registered.
“No one’s going to take their license off them – because they don’t have one. And the harm done may not come to light until very late on.”
Shahid said psychology plays a big factor in decisions that people make as they go for the cheapest options. “For me, it’s just about educating patients. Why do we all of a sudden have a very relaxed mindset when it comes to weight loss?
“We are not seeing the same behaviours when it comes to any other chronic condition. And obesity is a chronic condition.
“So in the same way that asthma or diabetes or hypertension or chronic conditions, patients wouldn’t dream of going to Facebook or TikTok to buy their blood pressure medication, but all of a sudden it’s absolutely fine to do that for weight loss medication. And I think in the language that we use as well – ‘skinny jabs’ – we almost downplay the seriousness of things.”
Shahid said she has heard “horror stories”, with some who have said they were given it casually by from friends who are doctors or pharmacists. She said: “Seeing prescribers or clinicians that also aren’t doing it properly is really worrying.
“I’ve had a man produce the treatment and show me vials of liquid for treatments that simply don’t come in vials. Goodness knows what is in them.
“At the moment it’s like we’re caught up in a big whirlwind and everyone’s just jumping on this bandwagon to just start prescribing it. And I would ask the prescribers what the risks are and if they are doing everything in their power to keep patients safe?”
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