Cheap ‘Do It Yourself Ozempic’ is being sold across Britain in a booming black market that puts lives at risk, a Daily Mail investigation has found.
Scores of dealers based in the UK and China are using social media to openly advertise their cut-price illegal fat jabs to vulnerable people.
They supply the active ingredient found in genuine weight-loss drugs and provide instructions on how to mix it in highly dangerous skinny jab home kits.
Some target followers of UK weight loss Facebook support groups desperate to get a cheaper version of the prescription-only medication drugs without the legally required medical checks or monitoring.
Despite the huge risks to their health, thousands of Britons are feared to have bought the DIY versions, which can cost less than £20 for a month’s course of injections – compared to around £200 for the legitimate pharmacy-bought treatment.
Our investigation found:
- One seller in Wembley, north-west London, told an undercover Mail reporter his fat jab kit was ‘magic stuff’ that could easily be sold on for a profit, and boasted he had ‘loads more’ available.
- Manufacturers in China – where most of the black-market drugs are produced – also tout online for people in the UK to sell their products, promising ‘huge profits’.
- One Chinese supplier sent a consignment to us via Royal Mail – and advised that if we wanted to sell it on we should label it as for ‘scientific research only’ to avoid ‘unnecessary troubles’.
- Another seller claimed to have 1,600 customers, and admitted that home mixing of semaglutide – Ozempic and Wegovy’s active ingredient – was ‘f***ing dangerous’ but ‘sells like crazy’.
- One social media seller called ‘Skinny Jab’s [sic] Birmingham’ advertised a ‘semaglutide kit’ with pictures purporting to show a woman before and after using it, and posted a video showing how to prepare it for injection.
- A Middlesbrough-based seller advertising on Facebook Marketplace sent us step-by-step instructions on how to mix the powder with sterile water and then inject it with a syringe, which she sold together as a package.
Raj Gorsia sold us a vial of unmixed semaglutide, Ozempic’s active ingredient, for £50.
After getting in touch with us via a Facebook group, he told the reporter he sold them to his ‘mates’, and had a friend who sourced them from China
Mr Gorsia met our reporter in the entrance to his block of flats in the shadow of the national football stadium in Wembley
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk owns the patent to semaglutide and uses it make Wegovy and Ozempic, a type 2 diabetes drug which can also be sold off-label for weight loss in the UK.
US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly owns the patent to tirzepatide, the active ingredient it uses to make rival weight loss drug Mounjaro.
But a flourishing mini-industry of factories producing counterfeit versions of these drugs has sprung up in China, from where they are shipped all over the globe.
The UK’s medical watchdog has issued a string of stark warnings that weight-loss medication bought via social media can pose a ‘serious risk’ to health.
And the boss of Novo Nordisk cautioned last year that unapproved versions of semaglutide had been associated with 10 deaths in the US.
The Mail has previously highlighted the horrific case of a mother who fell into a coma and almost died after buying a weight loss jab being illegally sold online.
But despite the health dangers to buyers and suppliers risking criminal prosecution for selling the drugs without a prescription, we found social media awash with dealers exploiting the highly lucrative black market.
Posing as a buyer who planned to sell on the DIY skinny jabs on at a profit, an undercover Mail reporter made contact with eight of these sellers.
Mr Gorsia, pictured in his Facebook profile image which he used to approach the Mail’s undercover reporter, described his drugs as ‘magic stuff’ and said a friend of his who had used it lost a stone in a month
Asked how the mixed product would compare to genuine weight loss drugs, Mr Gorsia said: ‘This is Ozempic’
He explained how to gently mix the drug with bacterial static water to create the drug
Raj Gorsia, who operates from his flat in the shadow of the national football stadium in Wembley, sold us a vial of unmixed semaglutide for £50. He also offered some of the sterile water.
After getting in touch with us via a Facebook group, he told the reporter he sold them to his ‘mates’, and could introduce him to a UK company that supplied them.
Asked how the mixed product would compare to genuine weight loss drugs, he said: ‘This is Ozempic.’
He explained how to gently mix the drug with bacterial static water to create the drug.
Mr Gorsia told the reporter: ‘You literally just roll it in your hand. Just be as gentle with that as you possibly can until the water, until the powder dissolves. And then you’ve got semaglutide.’
Asked about the amount the user should inject, he said: ‘You just follow the online dosage. I can’t remember what it is, it’s you, literally just, you have an insulin needle, you just pull it out and yeah.’
He described his drugs as ‘magic stuff’ and said a friend of his who had used it lost a stone in a month.
‘I’ve got loads. I’ve got about total 13. My mate gets them from China,’ he added.
Mr Gorsia, who according to his LinkedIn has a day job as a payroll officer for a bank, said he has sold them in the past and ‘there are no issues at all.’
Frank Wang from Jining Hnd Bio-Technology in Shandong Province, China, sold us 10 vials each containing 10mg of semaglutide powder for only £182, including shipping
![In online messages arranging the sale, he described how his firm had been producing and selling drugs for ¿many years¿ and that ¿sema[glutide] has always been one of our best-selling products¿](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/06/06/18/99120865-14788439-image-a-8_1749232704219.jpg)
In online messages arranging the sale, he described how his firm had been producing and selling drugs for ‘many years’ and that ‘sema[glutide] has always been one of our best-selling products’
Other Chinese manufacturers openly advertise for UK resellers of the DIY weight loss drugs
Separately, Frank Wang from Jining Hnd Bio-Technology in Shandong Province, China, sold us 10 vials each containing 10mg of semaglutide powder for only £182, including shipping.
Each vial would be enough to make around a month’s worth for people who have been using the jabs for some time and require a higher dose and more for new users.
Legitimately bought weight-loss drugs cost around £200 a month for those starting out on a course of treatment.
Mr Wang originally offered 100 vials after being told our reporter planned to sell the drug on for a profit.
In online messages arranging the sale, he described how his firm had been producing and selling drugs for ‘many years’ and that ‘sema[glutide] has always been one of our best-selling products’.
Before finalising the deal, he said his bank account accepted sterling and sent details of two of his existing British based clients.
He said: ‘We have been cooperating for many years. They have always passed through customs smoothly.’
The UK is a major market for Chinese factories producing the DIY weight loss drug ‘home kits’
Genuine Ozempic – a diabetes drug which can also sometimes be sold off label for weight loss – is prescription only and users require careful monitoring for safe use
He said the prices charged by legitimate manufacturers of the weight-loss drugs were ‘too high for ordinary people to afford’.
Asked if it was OK to sell it on, he said: ‘The sale is fine. But please mark it as being for scientific research only. This can avoid some unnecessary troubles.
‘However, we are all well aware of its actual usage and application.’ He added a smiley face emoji.
Mr Wang contacted us after a recommendation by another of his customers, an Australian who routinely imports semaglutide into Europe.
The man admitted: ‘Home mixing is dangerous for customers. Raw powder is cheaper but unless you have a lab its f****ing dangerous.’
But despite the risks he said it ‘sells like crazy’, adding: ‘It all starts slow and then you get customers, and they test it and then you blow up like me. I got about 1,600 customers.’
He said importing the black-market drugs to the UK has ‘never been an issue’, with some sellers bringing in ‘heaps’ of them for ‘years’ without problems.
Meanwhile, we found a Middlesbrough-based seller on Facebook Marketplace who advertised semaglutide for £110 and tirzepatide, the active ingredient for Mounjaro, for £130.
She said the drugs came as part of a ‘kit’ which included a 5mg vial of the powder, 2ml of sterilised water and 10 needles for weekly administration.
The woman sent step-by-step instructions for how to home-mix the powder and inject it, claiming the supply would last for eight to ten weeks.
She said she had sold the home mixing packs for over six months and had a UK based supplier who she believed sourced it from overseas.
Another seller, Andy Yang, a manager of a Chinese factory which sells semaglutide and tirzepatide as freeze dried powder, aggressively targeted vulnerable users on a Facebook weight loss support group.
In response to one member asking for advice on Ozempic and its potential side effects, she [CORR] posted: ‘Contact me, we sell directly from the factory with favourable prices, cheaper than pharmacies, and deliver to your door.’
Despite being told by other users to ‘p**s off’ she persisted and responded to another UK user with the price of her weight-loss drugs.
In other online posts she said her factory produced ‘high quality’ products ‘which can be safely transported to your area and delivered to your door.
She added: ‘We are looking for distributors. If you are interested, please contact me and I will give you a discount.’
Contacted directly, Ms Yang told our reporter: ‘Freeze-dried powder needs to be mixed with sterile water (bac water) before use. It has the same effect as Mounjaro, or even better…
‘My clients used pens before, but because the cost was too high, they all changed and started using their own vials to add bac water.
‘The mixture is injected using a syringe, the same way as the pen, and it varies depending on each person’s physical condition.
‘It is usually injected once a week, and has the same effect as the pen, but is less expensive…
‘You can also try adding them to your business, it may bring you huge profits, because my retail price is much lower than the treatment pen.’
She said her company sold kits of 20mg of tirzepatide with a vial of 3ml of sterile water ‘thrown in for free’.
Under rules set by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) there are strict criteria any patient should meet before being prescribed Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro, including a consultation. A prescription must be carefully monitored and requires ongoing support.
Unapproved versions of semaglutide have been associated with at least 100 hospitalisations and 10 deaths in the US, the chief executive of Novo Nordisk warned in November last year.
Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen said he was ‘alarmed’ by the figures from adverse event reporting database of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA says that the reports in that system aren’t verified.
Novo Nordisk has warned that the sale of counterfeit Ozempic injections in the UK is a ‘critical issue’ that poses a direct danger to health.
Andy Morling, the MHRA’s deputy director of criminal enforcement, said the watchdog was working ‘tirelessly’ to target those selling medicines illegally and causing harm.
‘Buying semaglutide, tirzepatide or liraglutide from illegally trading online suppliers significantly increases the risk of getting a product which is either falsified or not licensed for use in the UK.
‘Products purchased in this way will not meet our strict quality and safety standards, and taking such medicines may put your health at risk.’
Approached for comment, Mr Gorsia initially denied any knowledge of the sale, but later said he believed he had been ‘helping the buyer’ and that the vial of semaglutide he sold stated it was for ‘research purposes only’.
Mr Wang did not respond directly to the Mail, but in messages sent to the undercover reporter after we approached him for comment he offered a refund and claimed it was the first time he had sold semaglutide to the UK.
Facebook, which does not allow the sale of pharmaceutical drugs, removed pages we discovered after being alerted by the Mail.
investigations@dailymail.co.uk
I used a black market weight loss jab and it nearly killed me
A mother of two nearly died after taking a weight loss injection she bought online.
Michelle Sword, 46, from Carterton, Oxfordshire, ordered the slimming drug from an online beauty company because she wanted to lose a few pounds.
She believed she had bought an Ozempic injection but it was actually fast-acting insulin, which sent her into a diabetic coma that almost killed her. She was saved only after her then 13-year-old daughter raised the alarm and she was taken to hospital.
Michelle Sword, 46, from Carterton, Oxfordshire, ordered the slimming drug from an online beauty company because she wanted to lose a few pounds
The medics who saved her life called her recovery little short of miraculous.
Ms Sword had first bought an Ozempic injection in 2020 from a legitimate online pharmacy, which had helped her to lose almost two stone in six months. But by autumn 2023 her weight had crept up again so she decided to buy another jab.
Because of the difficulty getting hold of Ozempic, she ordered one online without any checks. But soon after injecting herself she collapsed.
On her way to hospital she had a seizure and the paramedics had to pull over to perform emergency treatment.
At hospital she was taken straight into resuscitation. Doctors said the fake treatment contained pure insulin and so she had effectively received a massive overdose.
In an interview with the Mail after her recovery, she issued a blunt warning to those considering buying the drugs online: ‘Don’t gamble with your life.’
