Weight loss jabs users who bought illegitimate “skinny jabs” on social media have warned against using doses of unknown drugs as experts have sounded the alarm on “life threatening” symptoms that could occur.
Keeley from south London wanted to lose a stone after having a child, but wasn’t prepared to pay for a Mounjaro prescription.
The 39-year-old, who works in aesthetics, saw an advert on Facebook offering “skinny jabs” for £35 a week and contacted the seller who was a beauty therapist to arrange a delivery.
“It was such a stupid thing to do. It was just sent in the post inside an insulin needle,” she told The Independent. “It was just a homemade thing, when I look back I think I had no idea where it actually came from. I could have died.”
Keeley said the syringes arrived in a non-branded wrapper enclosed with tissue and a simple instruction on how to inject it.
An image sent to Keeley by the seller shows a small vial of liquid with the words “skinny jab” and “Ozempic weekly injections” on the bottle. In another message she was reassured that the drugs were safe and instructed her to “pop the cap off and away you go”.
After taking the drug for just a week in February 2023 she started to experience side effects.
“In the first week I had headaches and stomach ache, the second week nothing happened at all and I am not sure if there was even anything in the syringe but water. After that I stopped taking it because I thought it wasn’t actually safe,” she explained.
Keeley’s sister also tried the cheap weight loss drugs and recalled having stomach aches that felt like “acid in her stomach”.
Jimmy Stone, a 34-year-old property manager from Windsor, used weight loss jabs he had bought on TikTok for two months after a company approached him about becoming a brand ambassador.
He started taking what he believes was Retatrutide in late 2025. The weight loss drug is currently undergoing clinical trials. Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, who make the drugs, said it is not licensed anywhere in the world.
Mr Stone didn’t have a consultation and when it arrived the packaging was labeled with Aluvi, which is not the maker of Retatrutide.
“It burnt the fat around my stomach and I wasn’t really doing much exercise, but I did get really bad heartburn,” Mr Stone said.
After purchasing the drug the website went down and rebranded about three times, Mr Stone claimed which made him suspicious the TikTok site was a scam.
“You don’t know what’s in it, they could be filling it with anything. I just think it’s a bit of a scam,” he added.
Weight loss drugs, known as GLP-1 agonists work by mimicking the natural hormone which regulates blood sugar, appetite and digestion. But like many drugs, there are possible side effects including nausea and diarrhoea, according to guidance by NICE.
However, buying weight loss drugs from illegitimate sources exposes users to severe and “life threatening” side effects Dr Kasim Usmani, a private GP based in Surrey told the Independent.
He explained the side effects of Retatrutide, made by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, are unknown because it is still being tested.
“We are seeing some promising outcomes with clinical trials of Retatrutide, but it needs to be further investigated to seek clinical safety for human use,” he said. “We have no idea if in the long term it increases risk of cancer, pancreatitis or certain types of gastrointestinal disorders.”
Buying weight loss drugs from unknown sellers on social media comes with a host of risks, the drug may be out of date or not stored properly, he explained.
“The person dispensing it isn’t always a trained professional, so they don’t know what they’re doing,” Dr Usmani stressed.
He advises to only buy weight loss drugs through legitimate sources, such as a pharmacy or GP that are regulated and have a license.
When the product arrives, check that it is in “professional packaging” and that the liquid in the formulation isn’t “cloudy”, Dr Usmani said.
“If it doesn’t come with any instructions on how to use it, store it or best routine management, that’s again a red flag,” he added.
An MHRA Spokesperson said: “Retatrutide is in clinical development and has not been approved for UK use.
“Outside of authorised clinical trials, any products being sold in the UK that claim to contain Retatrutide are likely to be illegal and are potentially dangerous to your health.”
MHRA explained weight loss drugs are prescription-only and only available via a doctor or qualified healthcare professional. Sourcing medications from unregulated supplies will not meet the MHRA’s strict safety and quality standards and could be dangerous.
Eli Lilly explained the drug is only available in their clinical trial and has not been approved by a regulator.
A spokesperson said:“ No one can legally sell it for human use. Counterfeit and black market medicines are untested, unregulated and potentially dangerous — in some cases, deadly. Patients deserve safe, effective and clinically tested medicines, not harmful knock offs.”
Meta explained it removes content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift weight loss products.
TikTok was approached by the Independent but did not comment. It said their community guidelines are clear that they don’t allow trading, marketing, or providing access to regulated, prohibited, or high-risk goods and services such as products marketed for weight loss or muscle gain.
