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The order from a web-based “pharmacy” was for oxycodone, a strong narcotic used to deal with ache.
The drugs appeared precisely like the actual issues, their true contents masked by meticulous counterfeiting. Days after receiving her on-line cargo, the lady who ordered them was lifeless from acute fentanyl poisoning.
The incident is recounted in a new public safety alert from US Drug Enforcement Administration investigators, who warn a few rise in unlawful, usually foreign-based on-line shops which are allegedly concentrating on American shoppers with misleading practices.
“These corporations function illegally, intentionally deceiving American clients into believing they’re buying secure, regulated drugs when they’re truly promoting faux, counterfeit drugs made with fentanyl or methamphetamine,” the DEA stated, noting that the faux pharmacies typically use US web site addresses and are professionally designed.
And quite than promoting merchandise manufactured by respected pharmaceutical corporations, the DEA stated, “Many of those websites purport to be legit, U.S. based mostly or FDA authorised websites, however are literally working with drug traffickers to satisfy on-line orders with faux drugs.”
Authorities say there are quite a few pink flags that may alert shoppers to a doable rip-off, together with websites that promote medicine with out requiring a legitimate prescription, these with costs listed in international forex, website with no proof of legitimate state and federal licensing, and the arrival of broken packaging in a international language or drugs with no expiration dates.
In an identical warning this month from the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, authorities stated suspicious on-line pharmacies have additionally been identified to “supply deep reductions or costs that appear too good to be true.”
Pretend pharmacy web sites recognized by DEA brokers embody many with generic names, comparable to pharmacystoresonline.com, careonlinestore.com, orderpainkillersonline.com and USAmedstores.com. These websites now redirect guests to a message indicating that the area has been seized by US authorities.
“You probably have bought alleged remedy from any of those web sites, it’s best to instantly cease utilizing it and phone your native DEA workplace” or report the incident online, the DEA warned.
Along with publicly alerting shoppers concerning the risks of faux on-line pharmacies, federal brokers have been working behind the scenes to disrupt and dismantle lethal trafficking operations.
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Final month, the US Justice Division introduced criminal charges against 18 defendants alleged to have operated faux on-line pharmacies after an investigation by the DEA and the Homeland Safety Investigations company.
Officers say the group, with members based mostly within the US, India and the Dominican Republic, allegedly distributed hundreds of thousands of counterfeit prescribed drugs on-line, together with faux drugs that killed no less than 9 unsuspecting clients.
If convicted, all 18 defendants withstand life in federal jail, DOJ stated.
“These people bought hundreds of thousands of harmful faux drugs to victims in each U.S. state and the District of Columbia,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram stated in a press release. “The defendants did this to earn cash by driving habit with lethal, highly-addictive fentanyl. The DEA is relentlessly targeted on saving lives by discovering these prison networks and shutting them down.”