Google has filed a civil action in Federal Court against fifty-two individuals alleged to have violated the terms of AdWords to promote fraudulent drug sales.

In a complaint filed in Federal Court in San Jose, CA, Google “seeks to stop rogue online pharmaceutical sellers” from using Google’s AdWords advertising network. Two defendants, Omar Jackman and John Doe “Simon” were named, and 50 others are “individuals whose true identities and locations are unknown.”

Google states in the complaint that “Google prohibits the promotion of online pharmacies and prescription drugs except under specific circumstances. Google allows ads targeting the United States to promote online pharmacy websites only if the advertised website is verified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (“VIPPS”) program.

Pharmacists in the African nation of Kenya say that their nation struggles with counterfeit drugs because of the large number of medications that are registered in the country. There are more than 11,000 pharmaceutical products registered in Kenya, which is one of the highest totals in Africa, according to the Daily Nation. Kenyan pharmacists point out that this high number…

A photographer’s project documenting what type of illicit goods come into the U.S. through New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport revealed smuggled counterfeit products including fake drugs. Taryn Simon spent five days and five nights in 2009 at one of JFK’s busiest terminals, reports CNN. There she not only encountered many knock-off handbags and fake gold, but also phony…