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A federal grand jury has indicted five more people for conspiring to commit extortion under the pretense of being U.S. Food & Drug Administration agents. The false FDA agents allegedly threatened Americans, who had purchased drugs from offshore online pharmacies, with incarceration to extort up to $100,000.
The USFDA announced on February 7th that Jose Miguel Mercado Garcia, 29, of the Dominican Republic, Zulai Morales, 25, of the Dominican Republic, Ramona Pichardo, 51, of New York, New York, Maria Curet, 33, of Providence, Rhode Island, and Milton Goris, 32, of Miami, Florida were indicted. Ramon Pichard was arrested on February 10th, while the remaining defendants are at large.
According to the one count indictment, beginning on December 1, 2007, people claiming to represent pharmaceutical distributors located in the Dominican Republic called and emailed US residents offering to sell pharmaceutical drugs. Purchasers of those pharmaceutical drugs from the Dominican Republic distributors were then instructed to pay via either a money wire service or by credit card.
The indictment alleges that after paying, customers would then receive telephone calls from purported United States FDA agents, who in fact were not FDA agents. The false FDA agents allegedly falsely stated that the customers’ orders from the Dominican Republic had been interdicted, and that the customers now owed fines.
Read MoreVictoria Espinel, the White House intellectual property enforcement coordinator, announced on December 13, 2010, that major American internet companies are helping to establish a non-profit organization targeting illegal Internet pharmacies in support of White House efforts.
Read MoreConsumers can protect themselves from fake drugs by following some simple steps to insure their prescriptions come from reliable pharmacies including verifying their pharmacy's legitmacy, submitting a doctor's prescription and being aware of practices that may signify frauds. According to AOL Money & Finance's Daily Finance report, consumers need to educate themselves about the characteristics of fake drugs, including their…
Read MoreThe Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in New Brunswick were part of the recent global effort, termed Operation Pangea, to fight the sale of counterfeit drugs from illegal online pharmacies. Law enforcement officials warned consumers that many of the websites that claim to be Canadian pharmacies are in fact run from other countries around the world and are trading on…
Read MoreIreland a significant player in INTERPOL's recent fake drug bust, Pangea III. According to the Irish Times, a co-ordinated Interpol operation targeting the sale of counterfeit and illegal drugs from online pharmacies netted the phony medicines. The Irish Medicines Board (IMB), the Revenue Commissioners’ Customs Service and Irish police were also involved in the operation, reports the news source. The action,…
Read MoreOctober 14, 2010
Lyon, France – INTERPOL has announced that 45 countries took part in a week of sweeps targeting the sale of counterfeit and illegal medicines over the internet. 76 criminals were arrested around the globe and 11,000 packages of fake drugs were impounded by regulators and customs officials. In total 290 online pharmacies selling fake and illegal drugs were shut down.
In total 290 online pharmacies selling fake and illegal drugs were shut down.
Read MoreToday Google filed a civil lawsuit against a number of illegal online pharmacies, claiming that the businesses violated the search engine's advertisement policy. Michael Zwibelman, Google's Litigation Counsel, wrote in a post on the company's blog that it has been battling these illegal online pharmacies for years in an effort to keep advertisements promoting illegal and fake pharmaceutical products from…
Read MoreCounterfeit drugs may be on the rise in the Pacific Northwest, posing a serious health risk to those who depend on prescription medications. Some pharmaceutical industry experts say that the production of counterfeit drugs is a growing rapidly and America’s northwest region is one of the main places where this is occurring, reports KIRO radio. Pfizer brought in Patrick Ford,…
Read MoreGiven the growing threat of counterfeit drugs around the world, the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) goes to great lengths to inform and educate consumers, health care professionals and policymakers about this multifaceted issue. Most recently, we submitted recommendations to the office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) following its request for comments regarding the costs to the U.S.…
Read MoreWASHINGTON, DC – Feb. 10, 2010 – The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) today commended Google for its updated policy on U.S. pharmaceutical advertising through its paid search program, AdWords. Toward the end of the month, Google will refine its advertising model to accept ads only from online pharmacies in the U.S. that are accredited by the National Association Boards…
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