CNN – The order from an online “pharmacy” was for oxycodone, a powerful narcotic used to treat pain.
The pills looked exactly like the real things, their true contents masked by meticulous counterfeiting. Days after receiving her online shipment, the woman who ordered them was dead from acute fentanyl poisoning.
The incident is recounted in a new public safety alert from US Drug Enforcement Administration investigators, who warn about a rise in illegal, typically foreign-based online stores that are allegedly targeting American consumers with deceptive practices.
DEA said that the fake pharmacies often use US website addresses and are professionally designed.
And rather than selling products manufactured by reputable pharmaceutical companies, the DEA said, “Many of these sites purport to be legitimate, U.S. based or FDA approved sites, but are actually working with drug traffickers to fulfill online orders with fake pills.”
Authorities say there are numerous red flags that can alert consumers to a possible scam, including:
- sites that sell drugs without requiring a valid prescription,
- those with prices listed in foreign currency,
- sites with no proof of valid state and federal licensing,
- and the arrival of damaged packaging in a foreign language or pills with no expiration dates.
In a similar warning this month from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, authorities said suspicious online pharmacies have also been known to “offer deep discounts or prices that seem too good to be true.”
Fake pharmacy websites identified by DEA agents include many with generic names, such as pharmacystoresonline.com, careonlinestore.com, orderpainkillersonline.com and USAmedstores.com.
Those sites now redirect visitors to a message indicating that the domain has been seized by US authorities …
