Bought from social media — what to do now

Step 1 — Stop

Don’t take the next planned dose. Don’t pay any follow-up invoice. Don’t order from the same seller again. If the seller is messaging you (chasing reorder, asking for a review, suggesting another product), don’t engage further than you have to — block after preserving the evidence in step 2.

Step 2 — Preserve everything

• The product. If it arrived, keep the carton, pen, PIL (or its absence), and any other packaging together. Don’t damage. Photograph all sides.
• The conversation. Screenshot every message with the seller (Instagram DM, TikTok DM, WhatsApp, Snapchat including the timestamp, Telegram channel posts). Don’t delete the chat.
• Payment record. Card statement, bank transfer reference, crypto transaction hash, gift-card number — whichever route you used.
• The seller account. Screenshot the profile page (handle, follower count, bio, recent posts). Accounts disappear quickly; capture before they do.
• Shipping. Photograph the outer mailer, label, customs declaration if visible, return address.

Step 3 — Don’t inject (or take any more)

If the product has arrived but you haven’t injected — do not start. If you’ve injected once or twice — do not take the next dose. The supply chain itself is the issue:

• No verified GMP manufacturing.
• No PIL traceability.
• No cold-chain assurance between manufacture and you.
• No licensed prescriber clinically accountable for the decision.
• No recall mechanism if the batch is contaminated or mis-identified.

Reports of counterfeit GLP-1 pens containing insulin (with acute hypoglycaemia risk to non-diabetic users) are well-documented. “The pen looks right” doesn’t mean its contents match the label.

Step 4 — Money recovery routes

If you paid by card

• Contact your bank and request a chargeback on the basis of: goods not as described / counterfeit product / fraudulent merchant. UK cards (Visa / Mastercard) generally honour chargebacks for these categories.
• Provide the screenshots and seller-account evidence.
• Time limits apply — typically 120 days from the transaction for goods-not-as-described claims. Move quickly.

If you paid by bank transfer

• Report to your bank as Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud. The voluntary CRM Code (UK Payments) provides reimbursement in many APP-fraud cases.
• Get an Action Fraud crime reference number first; banks often ask for it.

If you paid by crypto

No regulated recourse. Crypto payments are final. Some jurisdictions investigate large-scale crypto fraud but individual consumer recovery is realistically nil. The lesson is forward: don’t pay crypto for medicines.

If you paid via gift card

Almost no recourse. Gift-card scams are a known fraud pattern; card issuers occasionally honour limited recovery but it’s rare. Report to the gift-card issuer and to Action Fraud.

Step 5 — Report

• Action Fraud: actionfraud.police.uk — 24/7 online reporting. You’ll get a crime reference number; banks ask for it for APP fraud claims.
• MHRA — supply chain: Report a problem with a medicine. Include seller URL, screenshots, payment evidence, shipping details.
• MHRA — Yellow Card for any product you received (adverse events and suspect medicines). yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk
• The platform: use Instagram / TikTok / Facebook / etc.'s in-app report function. Categories vary but ‘regulated goods’ or ‘scam’ are usually appropriate. Don’t expect a fast response — your report joins a pattern that triggers takedowns.
• Trading Standards via Citizens Advice on 0808 223 1133 for UK-based sellers misrepresenting goods.

Step 6 — Clinical follow-up

If you injected and have symptoms, see symptom escalation guide for the 999 / 111 / prescriber mapping. Tell whoever you talk to that you suspect a counterfeit product — it changes assessment for hypoglycaemia, infection at injection site, and other counterfeit-relevant differentials.

For interim supply (if you were on a legitimate GLP-1 before the social-media purchase), talk to your prescriber. Don’t fill the gap with another unregulated source.

What NOT to do

• Don’t use the suspect product as “at least I have something.” The risk of injecting an unverified substance is real and worse than a short supply gap.
• Don’t sell or give the product to someone else. Supply offences apply to consumers too.
• Don’t pay the seller more “to get the right product sent.” Once a scam pattern is established, additional payments deepen the loss.
• Don’t throw the product away. MHRA may want it for laboratory analysis — preserve it.