NABP Warns: Fake Online Pharmacy Collective Pretends to Be Canadian Pharmacies
The new NABP report warns that a fake online pharmacy collective is posing as individual, but fake, Canadian pharmacies. In their latest quarterly report, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy calls for strong consumer outreach in response to ever-more sophisticated efforts by fake online pharmacies in disguising the illegal nature of their operations.
The July progress report from the National Association of
Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), the Internet Drug Outlet Identification Program,
shows a steady influx of new fake online pharmacy operations into the World Wide Web. Each quarter they survey approximately 10,000 different pharmacy websites, and their current findings mirror their findings of the last 6 months, that almost 97% of the pharmacy websites surveyed do not meet their criteria for accredited online pharmacies.
The NABP also cites worrying trends among fake online pharmacy operations. As they describe it they discovered “a number of Web sites falsely claiming to be VIPPS-accredited, sites selling counterfeit versions of brand-name drugs, and sites claiming to be Canadian that also dispense prescription drugs without any prescription and sell counterfeit versions of brand-name drugs.”
As a result of these deceptive tactics, the NABP is calling for increased consumer education about the dangers they face when shopping for prescription drugs online. As they put it, “because most Web sites selling prescription drugs are not what they appear to be, patient education is an important part of the public health mission.” The NABP’s consumer education campaign AWARERx, is aimed at educating the public at large about the dangers they face when buying drugs online. Learn more at http://www.awarerx.org/.