Carterton, Oxfordshire, February 2026: A 47-year-old woman from Oxfordshire narrowly survived a life-threatening medical emergency after injecting what she believed was an Ozempic weight-loss jab purchased through Facebook. The incident has sparked renewed warnings from health authorities about the growing dangers of counterfeit weight-loss injections sold online.
Drugs like Ozempic have surged in popularity due to their appetite-suppressing effects. Originally approved for diabetes, they are now widely used for weight loss. Limited access through official healthcare channels has driven many people to seek alternatives online.
Michelle Sword, a school receptionist and mother of two from Carterton, collapsed at home minutes after injecting the product. Her teenage daughter found her unconscious and called emergency services.
Paramedics worked for over an hour to stabilize her before rushing her to hospital. Doctors later confirmed that Michelle had fallen into a diabetic coma after her blood sugar dropped to a critically low level of 0.2 millimoles per liter. Medical tests revealed that the injection did not contain Ozempic or semaglutide. Instead, it contained fast-acting insulin, a drug that can cause severe hypoglycaemia if used incorrectly.
Michelle first used legitimate Ozempic in 2020 through proper medical channels after gaining weight following the end of her 20-year marriage. She initially lost weight successfully.
In 2023, after regaining weight and struggling to access the medication again, she turned to social media. She saw an advertisement on Facebook offering Ozempic pens and paid £150 via PayPal for what she believed was a month’s supply. No prescription, consultation, or medical checks were required.
She injected the product at home shortly after it arrived.
Having survived the ordeal, Michelle Sword is now publicly sharing detailed advice to help others spot counterfeit weight-loss injections and avoid similar danger. Key red flags she identified include:
No eligibility checks or health consultations before purchase — legitimate weight-loss injections like Ozempic require a prescription and medical assessment.
Unverified payment methods like PayPal or direct bank transfers instead of legitimate pharmacy billing.
Poor packaging with spelling errors or odd instructions, often in non-English languages.
Suspicious pricing that seems to match or undercut general market rates — which can breed a false sense of legitimacy before disaster strikes.
Michelle says: “Being skinny isn’t worth dying for.” She now urges anyone considering weight-loss jabs online to speak with a healthcare professional or visit a GP to get legitimate prescriptions from regulated pharmacies only.
The UK’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has confirmed that it has seized more than 6,500 fake Ozempic pens in the past two years amid a dramatic increase in counterfeit weight-loss drugs circulating online and across social media.
This spike mirrors wider concerns from health authorities, which warn that drugs marketed for weight loss via unregulated channels including social media ads, online forums, and unlicensed sellers pose serious health and safety risks with unknown, potentially dangerous ingredients.
(Rh/ARC)
