{"id":12327,"date":"2026-02-05T11:51:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=12327"},"modified":"2026-02-11T21:33:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:33:44","slug":"i-nearly-died-after-taking-fake-ozempic-weight-loss-jabs-bought-on-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/05\/i-nearly-died-after-taking-fake-ozempic-weight-loss-jabs-bought-on-facebook\/","title":{"rendered":"I nearly died after taking fake Ozempic weight loss jabs bought on Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Michelle\t<\/div>
Michelle was ‘ecstatic’ at the results of legitimate Ozempic (Picture: Michelle Sword\/SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Michelle Sword, 47, first started taking weight loss jabs<\/a> in 2020 after she put on two stone following the breakdown of her 20-year marriage.<\/p>\n

‘They came at a time when I really needed them,’ says the mum-of-two, from Carterton, Oxfordshire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘I’d always been a size 8 to 10, but the weight had been slowly creeping on as I turned to comfort eating… I no longer recognised myself in the mirror.<\/p>\n

Within three months of buying her first pen of Ozempic<\/a> \u2014 a medication containing semaglutide, which mimics a hormone in the gut that suppresses appetite \u2014 from a legitimate online pharmacy<\/a>, Michelle had lost two stone.<\/p>\n

‘Ecstatic’ to reach her goal of getting back to her previous weight and dress size, the school<\/a> receptionist came off the drug.<\/p>\n

But while she maintained the results through diet and exercise for a while, she soon slipped into the same ‘bad eating habits’<\/a> \u2014 and by 2023, the extra pounds ‘really showed’ on her petite 5ft 2in frame.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Michelle\t<\/div>
Her weight fluctuated, and she started looking for a ‘quick fix’ to get back on track (Picture: Michelle Sword\/SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This time around, Michelle found legitimate Ozempic was ‘increasingly hard to come by’ online. So when she spotted a company selling the jabs on Facebook<\/a>, it ‘seemed like a no-brainer’.<\/p>\n

‘I panicked and wanted a quick fix,’ she admits. ‘I paid \u00a3150 through PayPal, and two days later got a month’s supply.’<\/p>\n

Although she says the pen itself looked identical to the previous ones, with a blue plastic cover and Ozempic sticker, there was one warning sign that something wasn’t right<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"The\t<\/div>
She couldn’t tell the difference between the fake pens and the ones she’d tried previously (Picture: Michelle Sword\/SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Michelle recalls: ‘It just kept clicking. I didn’t really know what the dose was, so I just decided to stop after a few clicks. <\/p>\n

‘When I looked at the inside of the vial, the liquid didn’t seem to have gone down that far, so I remember thinking I might have to take some more later.’<\/p>\n

Dismissing her concerns, she proceeded with the injection. But just 20 minutes later, ‘everything went black’ and Michelle collapsed on the floor.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Michelle,\t<\/div>
The mum fell unconscious and had to be revived in hospital (Picture: Victoria Blissett\/SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Luckily, her 15-year-old daughter had unexpectedly come home early and called 999 for help. Paramedics spent over an hour trying to revive the unconscious mum, before rushing her to hospital where she was revived.<\/p>\n

‘My blood sugar level was 0.2 millimoles per litre, when it should have been between four and seven,’ she says. ‘I was virtually on the brink of death.’<\/p>\n

Tests later revealed the pen was full of insulin, which had essentially caused a diabetic coma \u2014 and although Michelle’s condition eventually stabilised, this near miss led to her to swear she’d ‘never touch jabs again’.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tOzempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk says…\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
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‘Patient safety is a top priority for Novo Nordisk and as counterfeits pose a real threat to safety, we are working in close collaboration with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to identify and eliminate counterfeit drugs from the UK market,’ the company says on its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘Every counterfeit case we are made aware of is looked into and reported to the authorities according to the applicable regulations. We also work with a third party specialised in monitoring and taking down of illegal online offers to specifically address this…<\/p>\n

‘Prescription-only medicines should only be obtained through legitimate sources and after consultation with a healthcare professional.’<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

She also hopes to ‘warn others’ about the dangers of fake weight loss drugs, following an MHRA report which revealed more than 6,500 counterfeit products<\/a> claiming to contain Ozempic were seized in the UK in just over two years.<\/p>\n

‘It’s absolutely disgusting there are people out there who prey on people’s insecurities,’ Michelle says. ‘And it’s also not helpful that social media<\/a> platforms endorse these fakes either \u2014 with pop up advertisements and links to websites.’<\/p>\n

Keen to make sure ‘no one makes the same mistake’, she warns that regulated medication always requires a prescription<\/a>, so ‘if there are no eligibility checks, it’s probably a scam.’<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Michelle\t<\/div>
Michelle, left, hopes to warn others about counterfeit weight loss drugs (Picture: Michelle Sword\/SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Similarly, Michelle urges people to heed the red flags she ignored, from the website asking her to pay via PayPal, to the spelling errors on the product and instructions. <\/p>\n

‘I feel stupid and fooled looking back now,’ she adds. <\/p>\n

‘But if I can stop one person from seeking black market jabs, then my story is definitely worth sharing.’<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tHow to spot fake weight loss jabs\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
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There are three main factors to consider here, according to<\/a> Chemist4U head of pharmacy, Jason Murphy:<\/p>\n