SCAMS Bulletin Host Jay White is volunteer attorney who provided free legal services for low income seniors in San Mateo County, California.

January 8, 2020

COUNTERFEIT DRUGS

While there are legitimate online pharmacies, many are fraudulent. At best, they’ll take your money and fail to deliver the promised prescription. At worst, they could send you a counterfeit drug that may worsen your condition or even be fatal. Reports have circulated of drugs being laced with lethal doses of fentanyl.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to guard against counterfeit prescriptions whether you are purchasing online, or from your neighborhood pharmacy:

*Verify your online pharmacy. Before purchasing a drug online, go to the website http://www.safe.pharmacy.com to make sure your pharmacy is recommended. If it is not on the list, do not purchase drugs from that online pharmacy. 

*Pay attention to the appearance of the drug and its packaging. If the appearance or coloring of the drug seems different from what you expected, or if the packaging appears to be tampered with, this is a red flag.  

*Avoid pharmacies that do not require a prescription. If the pharmacy only requires you to fill out a questionnaire, the pharmacy is probably a seller of counterfeit drugs. Legitimate pharmacies will require you to submit a prescription from a health care provider before they sell any medicine that requires a prescription. 

*Make sure that the pharmacy has a state license.  

*Be wary of prices that seem too good to be true. Regardless of whether you are getting your drugs online, at a neighborhood pharmacy, or in a provider’s office, be wary of drugs that are offered at a substantially lower than market-value price. Use drug price comparison tools like http://www.GoodRX.com to get an idea of what normal market prices are for a particular drug. 

*Consult your doctor or pharmacist. If you think you may have used a counterfeit drug, consult a medical professional immediately. If you have a suspicion that you have received a drug that is a counterfeit, take it to your pharmacist for verification.

There are safe ways to save money on prescription drugs. You should never risk your health for an attractive deal on prescription drugs. If you would like to learn more about counterfeit drugs, you can also check out Fraud.org’s Fake Rx Action center.

If you think you have stumbled upon a counterfeit prescription drug, you can report it by filing a complaint at Fraud.org’s secure online complaint form.

Attribution: fraud.org