Pavel Vrublevsky, co-owner of Rx-Promotion, a rogue online pharmacy affiliate network, as well as ChronoPay, the largest online payment processor in Russia, has been arrested by Russian authorities for allegedly hiring a hacker to attack a rival payment processing company. Russian state news, Vesti, reports that Vrublevsky allegedly hired a hacker who debilitated the current…
Read MoreSince completion of its annual review of the incidence of pharmaceutical crime including the counterfeiting, illegal diversion and theft of medicines, the Pharmaceutical Security Institute has been engaged in briefings of drug regulators around the world.
Read MoreOne of three businessmen accused of importing and selling counterfeit asthma inhalers in the United Kingdom has been convicted and sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment for possessing 800 counterfeit asthma inhalers. Premal Gandesha, of West Drayton, pleaded guilty on June 13, 2011, to importing medicine from outside the European Economic Area through his company, Blueridge…
Read MoreHealth Canada, the Canadian health regulatory agency, has discovered fake medication in the Toronto area that contains ingredients not found in the legitmate medication.
The seized medication is fake erectile dysfunction medication mimicking Cialis in shape, form, and similar packaging, but actually contains sildenafil, a prescription medication not found in authentic Cialis that can be very dangerous to people with heart conditions and requires careful medical supervision for use.
Health Canada reminds consumers to look for drug identification numbers to verify authenticity. “Health products that have been authorized for sale by Health Canada will have an eight-digit Drug Identification Number (DIN), a Homeopathic Medicine Number (DIN–HM) or a Natural Product Number (NPN) on the label.”
The blisterpacks of the fake medication look very similar. The logo is reproduced in larger form on the counterfeit, and the typeface is similar but incorrect. Most notably, the counterfeit package has tadalafil written on it in four languages, including Russian.
In addition, the authentic Cialis blister packs have a logo that changes color from copper to green when the package is tilted, which is not true of the counterfeits, reports CBC News Canada.
Read MoreThis is a reprint of the Health Canada alert. Following an R.C.M.P. seizure of counterfeit Cialis in the Greater Toronto Area, Health Canada is reminding Canadians that unauthorized and counterfeit health products can pose serious risks to their health as they have not been reviewed by the Department for safety, quality, or efficacy. The seized…
Read MoreGardaí issued a warning about the use of counterfeit medication following the accidental death of two men in Tralee, Ireland. Gardaí in Kerry believe counterfeit tranquilizers purchased over the internet were involved in the deaths of two men, one in his late 20s, and the other in his early 30s, reports The Irish Examiner. Detective…
Read MoreZambian government officials have allocated K2 billion to building a National Drug Quality Control Laboratory in Lusaka, announced the Ministry of Health. Under the authority of the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority, the goal of the laboratory is to curb the spread of counterfeit medicine within Zambia, reports the Zambia Daily Mail. Said Minster of Health Kapembwa…
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The online pharmacy spam in your email is probably coming from an online pharmacy organization with close links to organized crime and corrupt police in Russia.
The most actively promoted online pharmacies via spam are associated with Rx-Promotion.com, according to University of California at San Diego researchers.
Now new documents have revealed that Rx-Promotion.com, an affiliate network of rogue pharmacies, is associated with ChronoPay, the largest payment processor in Russia. While ChronoPay claims to be the PayPal of Russia, it makes a large part of its profits from illegal internet-based businesses, including promoting extreme pornographic websites, selling pirated music and movies, and is known for paying off police inspectors and working with nefarious banks.
Investigative reporter Brian Krebs has reported that evidence provided to law enforcement agencies has revealed that ChronoPay’s chief executive, Pavel Vrublevsky, is also definitively the criminal mastermind of this collection of illicit businesses, including the online pharmacies.
According to Krebs, Vrublevsky purchased a license for an Intranet service called “MegaPlan” which is a project management system he used to keep a track of ChronoPay’s “black” operations, including processing payments for counterfeit prescription drugs sold through hundreds of websites affiliated with rogue online pharmacy program Rx-promotion.com.
Delving into the MegaPlan, law enforcement agents discovered how ChronoPay employees tracked payments, ordered supplies, and ran advertising partnerships for Rx-promotion.com and other nefarious services, including “rape” pornography sites and other violent pornography, as well as pirated mp3s, and fake anti-virus software known as “scareware.”
Though employees used pseudonyms in the system, they forwarded the pseudonymic email to their actual ChronoPay email accounts, which allowed authorities to identify them.
The project management software revealed that the equal partners for the rogue pharmacy promotion program, Rx-Promotion, were Vrubelvsky and Yuri Kabayenkov. But in addition, a former Russian police investigator, previously in charge of a criminal investigation of Vrublevsky, was identified as being on the payroll.
The Food and Drug Board (FDB) of Ghana announced that laboratory analyses discovered anti-malarial medication without any active ingredients. Dr. Stephen Opuni, Chief Executive of the FDB, said that counterfeit medication, artesunate tablets, labeled as if manufactured by Guilin Pharmaceutical Co in China, had been analyzed for artesunate contain none, reported the Ghana News Agency.…
Read MoreUnited Nations officials working with African government ministers and Interpol representatives pledged to fight drug trafficking and organized crime, focusing on counterfeit medicine production and trade throughout West Africa, in Dakar on June 20, 2011. The inaugural session of the High-Level Policy Committee of the West Africa Coast Initiative was filled with discussion about how…
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