Skip to content
Compare Wegovy prices
Safety before price

How to spot a fake online pharmacy

Fake pharmacy style websites target UK weight loss injection demand with too good to be true prices. Five checks expose almost all of them before any money leaves your account.

Last checked 3 Nov 2026

Short answer: check the pharmacy on the official GPhC register, insist on a real consultation, treat prices far below every checked provider as the strongest fraud signal, refuse bank transfer only payment, and verify the company on Companies House. Any single failure means walk away.

The five checks

  1. Check the GPhC registerSearch the pharmacy name and premises on the official GPhC register. No premises registration means no UK dispensing pharmacy, whatever logos the website displays. Registration numbers shown on a site must match the register exactly.
  2. Demand a real consultationPrescription only medicine may only be supplied after a clinical consultation with a regulated prescriber. A site offering to ship with no questions asked is both unlawful and dangerous.
  3. Treat outlier prices as a warningChecked UK provider prices cluster in a fairly narrow band because genuine supply has real costs. Compare any site against the live iGovy price comparison: dramatically cheaper than every checked provider is the classic fake pattern.
  4. Inspect payment methodsBank transfer only, cryptocurrency, gift cards or payment links sent over messaging apps are fraud patterns. A normal card checkout with standard protections is the baseline. It also keeps your chargeback rights.
  5. Verify company detailsLook up the company name and number on Companies House, confirm a real registered address and a working UK contact route. Missing, mismatched or overseas only details on a UK facing pharmacy site are a red flag.
Already paid a suspicious site? Contact your bank immediately and ask about chargeback, report to Action Fraud, and report the site to the MHRA. Do not use any product that arrives. Counterfeit injections are a real health risk.

How iGovy fights this

Every provider listed on iGovy is checked against the GPhC register before listing, price pages carry visible last checked stamps, and the network operates private fraud intelligence tooling with verified UK pharmacies to track suspicious pharmacy style sites as they appear. Community reports have already helped expose fakes. If something looks wrong, use the Monj Verified page to see how listings are vetted, and report anything suspicious via the contact route.

Independence note: iGovy does not sell, prescribe or dispense medicines. It exists so UK patients can compare genuine provider prices and avoid exactly the sites this page describes.

Once you have ruled out an outright fake, the next question is how well a legitimate pharmacy performs. The pharmacy score covers: what GPhC inspectors recorded against the five inspection principles, shown next to the price.

Fake pharmacy questions

What is the quickest single check?

Search the pharmacy on the official GPhC register. Genuine UK online pharmacies operate from registered premises under a superintendent pharmacist. Fakes cannot pass this check.

Why are very low prices suspicious?

Genuine UK supply has real wholesale, clinical and dispensing costs, so checked provider prices cluster in a fairly narrow band. A site dramatically below every checked provider is almost always fake, and iGovy has helped identify sites using exactly that pattern.

Where do I report a suspected fake pharmacy?

Report to the MHRA fake medicines reporting service and Action Fraud. If you have paid, contact your bank immediately and ask about chargeback protection.

Does iGovy verify the pharmacies it lists?

Yes. Providers are checked against the GPhC register before listing and price pages carry last checked stamps. iGovy also operates fraud intelligence tooling with verified UK pharmacies to track suspicious sites.

Sources referenced on this page

Linked from the text above:

Standing primary references for every iGovy page: