FDA Warns Of Threatening Fake Drug Purchase Letters From Online Sites
By: Jim Stickley and Tina Davis
August 1, 2018
Prescription medications are expensive. This is not much of a secret in the United States. And to help curb the expense, many people purchase these from companies online, which often offer lower prices on the same drugs. The FDA is warning consumers about illegal online pharmacies and to be on the lookout for a scam where these website owners take the money and instead of sending the products, they send a letter warning the purchasers that they are under investigation for drug violations.
First, the FDA has stated they don’t generally take action against individuals for purchasing medications online. They do try to take action against the owners of these illegal operations. The FDA did not send any letter making the accusations in these fake letters and warns recipients not to fall for anything written in them.
These may be addressed generically to “Sir/Ma’am” or may address the recipient directly. In any case, those receiving any such letter should contact the FDA Internet Pharmacy Task Force and/or the FTC to report the details.
While it’s understandable to want to lower your medication costs, be aware of these scams. Remember to check the security of any website in which you enter payment details. If you don’t see that “https” at the beginning, the text doesn’t turn green indicating secure, or you don’t see a lock icon on the page, don’t enter your payment information. While this is no longer a guarantee of a secure and legitimate website, looking for those indicators is a good first step.
Remember to continuously check your payment card charges for suspicious activity. With so much online commerce happening these days, it’s not out of the question for hackers to get to card numbers. If you have the option to check it more often than monthly, do so. The faster you take care of any fraudulent charges, the less expensive and stressful for you and your financial institution. After all, the cost of fraud doesn’t just fall into your lap. The more expensive it is for those card issuers to fight fraud, the more expensive using payment cards will be in the long run.
Tips to spot illegal or scam online pharmacies:
- If they allow you to purchase prescription medications without a prescription
- If the prices are just too good to be true
- If they are not licensed by your state board of pharmacy or equivalent agency
- If they are not on the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s list
- If they are not located in the U.S.
- If they will ship anywhere in the world
It isn’t clear why the scammers sent these letters out since they likely have the victims’ money anyway. However, there is suspicion that it’s the start of a very sophisticated and targeted campaign toward those who use these services. Be on the lookout for phishing, vishing, and smishing. These people have the basic contact details of the customers, as well as some information about their healthcare. Additional scams that try to steal even more sensitive information could be on the way.