Scammers are cashing in on Chicago's appetite for weight-loss drugs, pushing counterfeit GLP-1 medications through fake ads, deceptive text messages and online pharmacies that don't actually exist. The Better Business Bureau says shoppers should never pay for these drugs from unverified sellers, never click links in suspicious GLP-1 messages, and should instead talk to their own doctors before starting treatment.
The warning, first reported by ABC7 Chicago, describes scammers targeting consumers who are actively seeking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Some of these scams reportedly use artificial intelligence deepfakes of celebrities to lend false credibility to the products, while others send texts claiming the recipient is already eligible for a prescription — a tactic designed to skip the step of actually seeing a doctor.
It's not just a marketing problem. Fake versions of these drugs pose real physical risk, since counterfeit products may contain incorrect doses, contaminants, or entirely unrelated substances, according to Good Housekeeping. A safety-report analysis cited by the outlet identified more than 230 cases linked to suspected counterfeit semaglutide, with nearly 90% of those classified as serious adverse events.
How to Tell Real Wegovy From a Fake
Because Wegovy has become so sought-after, fake or counterfeit injections have flooded the market, according to GoodRx. Authentic Wegovy comes as a white injection pen with a gray cap, labeled in one of five specific colors — green, pink, brown, blue or black. If a product shows up in a vial instead of a pen, GoodRx says plainly: it's not real Wegovy.
GoodRx also recommends consumers use the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy's search tool to verify that an online pharmacy is legitimate before ever placing an order. That step matters, since research cited by Good Housekeeping found more than one in five UK weight-loss medication users didn't get their drugs through a healthcare professional at all, and nearly 12% obtained treatment through social media instead.
A Chicago Case Already in the Courts
The scam warning follows a real prosecution: a Chicago man was charged with a scheme to impersonate doctors in order to obtain unauthorized GLP-1 medications on behalf of individuals who paid him, the Department of Justice said, as reported by MedPage Today. The case underscores how the appeal of these drugs has created an opening for people posing as medical professionals to profit off desperate patients.
That desperation is part of a much bigger pattern. The combination of soaring prices, worldwide shortages, desperate patients and ever-climbing obesity rates has turned GLP-1 drugs into a hot commodity among transnational crime groups and homegrown counterfeiters alike, according to a report from ASRN.
Fake Drugs Have Already Sent Patients to the Hospital
Chicago is far from alone. The European Medicines Agency has warned that injection pens falsely labeled as Ozempic turned up in the European Union and the United Kingdom, and counterfeit Ozempic has been found in at least 14 countries, including the UK, Russia, Egypt and Germany, per Forbes. Patients in Austria and Britain were hospitalized after using products that may have contained insulin instead of semaglutide, the outlet reported, and marketplace IndiaMART worked with drugmaker Novo Nordisk to remove dozens of counterfeit Wegovy listings from its platform.
UK border agents alone seized more than 18,000 illegal or unregulated weight-loss and diabetes medications between January 2024 and June 2025, Good Housekeeping reported, a scale that suggests the problem isn't slowing down.
What the FDA Says About Compounded Versions
Some consumers turn to compounded versions of GLP-1 drugs, which are different from outright counterfeits but come with their own caveats. Compounded drugs are not FDA approved, meaning the agency does not review their safety, effectiveness or quality before they're marketed, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The agency notes a drug may be compounded for a patient who cannot be treated with an FDA-approved medication, such as someone with an allergy to a specific ingredient, per FDA guidance on the subject.
The bottom line from consumer advocates remains the same one the BBB is repeating in Chicago: only get weight-loss medications from registered healthcare professionals or a licensed pharmacy, don't pay scammers offering GLP-1 drugs through unsolicited ads or texts, and talk to a doctor directly before starting any new treatment.
