Fake online pharmacies

What are fake online pharmacies?

Fake online pharmacies are scams that use the internet and spam emails to offer drugs and medicine at very cheap prices or without the need for a prescription from a doctor. These scams can cause both financial and health problems.

Most spam email offers selling medicines or drugs are designed to steal your credit card details or to download damaging files (like spyware and key-loggers) onto your computer.

Even if you actually do receive the products that you order, there is no guarantee that they are the real thing. In some cases, the medicines or other products may even damage your health.

Remember that there are legitimate online pharmacies. These businesses will have their full contact details listed and will also require a valid prescription before they send out any medicine that requires one.

Warning signs

* You receive an unsolicited email offering cheap or hard-to-get pills or treatments. Often, these emails will promote well-known drugs such as Prozac or Viagra.
* The subject title of the email has nothing to do with the products on offer.
* The words in the email are spelt incorrectly or have apostrophes and spaces in the middle of the words. This is done to try to avoid anti-spam filters.
* The email or website will sell you drugs that you would normally need a prescription for, even if you don’t have a prescription.
* The pharmacy’s website is based overseas or does not include a contact telephone number or street address.

Protect yourself from fake online pharmacy scams

* Use your common sense: the offer may be a scam.
* Be very careful about offers for medicines, supplements or other treatments: always seek the advice of your health care professional.
* Do not open suspicious or unsolicited emails (spam): delete them.
* Do not click on any links in a spam email, or open any files attached to them.
* Never call a telephone number that you see in a spam email.
* Check the website address carefully. Scammers often set up fake websites with very similar addresses.
* Never enter your personal, credit card or online account information on a website that you are not certain is genuine.

As well as following these specific tips, find out how to protect yourself from all sorts of other scams.

Do your homework

Prescription-only medicine requires a doctor or other qualified health care professional to have examined you and talked to you about the medical issue in question. Most medicines have at least some side-effects and these can be very serious for some people. You should never start a new course of medication or start taking any new pills without first seeing your health care professional.

If you have a prescription and are interested in using an online pharmacy, you need to make sure that it is not a scam. Ask your health care professional if they can recommend any online pharmacies. Never access an online pharmacy site through a link in an unsolicited email.

Some websites and emails offer ‘generic’ versions of well-known drugs. However, many drugs are still protected by patents and no legitimate generic versions exist. Check with your local pharmacy or health care professional to see if a generic version of the drug exists.

If you are interested in buying from an online pharmacy, pay attention to the terms and conditions of the website. Make sure you also find out about how to get a refund if things go wrong. Check that the pharmacy is who they say they are—it is very easy to set up a fake website. Make sure the website includes full contact details (a physical street address and phone numbers).

If you want to use an overseas-based online pharmacy, you should also check with the Therapeutic Goods Administration to make sure that the product you want to purchase does not contain any ingredients that are prohibited in Australia. Remember that if you deal with an overseas-based website, it can be much harder to sort out any problems that may come up.

Decide

If you receive an unsolicited email from an online pharmacy, delete it.

If you do want to buy from an online pharmacy and you are sure that the online pharmacy is legitimate, there are still a few precautions you should take. Make sure you know exactly how much the order will cost (including delivery fees and any currency conversion rates). Also make sure you know how to get a refund if the product does not arrive, is damaged or not what you ordered.

Business Opportunity Scams

What is a business opportunity scam?

A business opportunity scam can come to you through a spam email, a phone call or a letter. The scammer will always offer you a way to make a lot of money quickly.

Business opportunity scams are similar to pyramid schemes, chain letters, computer prediction software and work from home scams. A business opportunity can be a scam if it relies on you making an upfront payment (for something that does not work or is not what you expected), recruiting other people to the scheme (these are pyramid schemes) or paying for a ‘system’ to make money which may not work as it is supposed to.

Warning signs

* You receive a spam email offering you a business opportunity.
* The advertisement requires you to send a fee to get your start up materials.
* The advertisement only specifies a post office box address rather than a street address.
* The email or letter may not be addressed specifically to you.
* You receive information about a job which only requires you to transfer money for someone else.
* Promises of guaranteed or very large returns.
* Offers of loads of money just by using certain software to predict share market movements or sporting results (especially horseracing).

Protect yourself against business opportunity scams

* Remember there are no get-rich-quick schemes: the only people who make money are the scammers.
* Never agree to any business proposal on the phone: always ask for an offer in writing.
* Beware of job offers that require you to pay an upfront fee.
* Money laundering is a criminal offence: do not agree to transfer money for someone else.
* NEVER send money, or give credit card or online account details to anyone you do not know and trust.
* You can contact your local office of fair trading, ASIC or the ACCC for assistance.
* Do not open suspicious or unsolicited emails (spam): delete them.

As well as following these specific tips, find out how to protect yourself from all sorts of other scams.

Do your homework

Before you respond to a business opportunity advertisement, ask yourself why somebody would offer you this opportunity without even knowing you. If someone had a guaranteed way of making a lot of money, why would they tell you about it?

Always investigate money-making schemes very carefully before parting with your money. Take time to seek independent legal or other professional advice.

Don’t rely on the person approaching you or anyone they recommend for advice.

Don’t be enticed by reported past performance or examples, as these advertising tools can easily be manipulated.

Be on the look out for ongoing costs. Many business opportunity scams require you to open accounts or transfer money. You should NEVER give out your personal or banking details to somebody you don’t know and trust. Don’t let the fact that an offer sounds enticing or genuine fool you.

Decide

NEVER reply to an unsolicited or spam email, as this may encourage further contact from the spammers. If you are interested in a business opportunity, make sure you get independent professional advice before making a decision. Remember that if a business opportunity sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Report them

If you have received information about a business opportunity that sounds similar to the scams described above, or if you have responded to one of these offers and you now suspect or realise it is a scam, you can report a scam through the SCAMwatch website. You should also spread the word to your friends, family and colleagues to protect them.

Source: http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/BusinessOpportunityScams

How Not to Get Hooked by a ‘Phishing’ Scam

“We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please click the link below and confirm your identity.”

“During our regular verification of accounts, we couldn’t verify your information. Please click here to update and verify your information.”

Have you received email with a similar message? It’s a scam called “phishing” — and it involves Internet fraudsters who send spam or pop-up messages to lure personal information (credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information) from unsuspecting victims.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, phishers send an email or pop-up message that claims to be from a business or organization that you may deal with — for example, an Internet service provider (ISP), bank, online payment service, or even a government agency. The message may ask you to “update,” “validate,” or “confirm” your account information. Some phishing emails threaten a dire consequence if you don’t respond. The messages direct you to a website that looks just like a legitimate organization’s site. But it isn’t. It’s a bogus site whose sole purpose is to trick you into divulging your personal information so the operators can steal your identity and run up bills or commit crimes in your name.

The FTC suggests these tips to help you avoid getting hooked by a phishing scam:

• If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply. And don’t click on the link in the message, either. Legitimate companies don’t ask for this information via email. If you are concerned about your account, contact the organization mentioned in the email using a telephone number you know to be genuine, or open a new Internet browser session and type in the company’s correct Web address yourself. In any case, don’t cut and paste the link from the message into your Internet browser — phishers can make links look like they go to one place, but that actually send you to a different site.

• Area codes can mislead. Some scammers send an email that appears to be from a legitimate business and ask you to call a phone number to update your account or access a “refund.” Because they use Voice Over Internet Protocol technology, the area code you call does not reflect where the scammers really are. If you need to reach an organization you do business with, call the number on your financial statements or on the back of your credit card. In any case, delete random emails that ask you to confirm or divulge your financial information.

• Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software, as well as a firewall, and update them all regularly. Some phishing emails contain software that can harm your computer or track your activities on the Internet without your knowledge.
  
  Anti-virus software and a firewall can protect you from inadvertently accepting such unwanted files. Anti-virus software scans incoming communications for troublesome files. Look for antivirus software that recognizes current viruses as well as older ones; that can effectively reverse the damage; and that updates automatically.
  
  A firewall helps make you invisible on the Internet and blocks all communications from unauthorized sources. It’s especially important to run a firewall if you have a broadband connection. Operating systems (like Windows or Linux) or browsers (like Internet Explorer or Netscape) also may offer free software “patches” to close holes in the system that hackers or phishers could exploit.

• Don’t email personal or financial information. Email is not a secure method of transmitting personal information. If you initiate a transaction and want to provide your personal or financial information through an organization’s website, look for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a URL for a website that begins “https:” (the “s” stands for “secure”). Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some phishers have forged security icons.

• Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to check for unauthorized charges. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company or bank to confirm your billing address and account balances.

• Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails you receive, regardless of who sent them. These files can contain viruses or other software that can weaken your computer’s security.

• Forward spam that is phishing for information to spam@uce.gov and to the company, bank, or organization impersonated in the phishing email. Most organizations have information on their websites about where to report problems.

• If you believe you’ve been scammed, file your complaint at ftc.gov, and then visit the FTC’s Identity Theft website at www.consumer.gov/idtheft. Victims of phishing can become victims of identity theft. While you can’t entirely control whether you will become a victim of identity theft, you can take some steps to minimize your risk. If an identity thief is opening credit accounts in your name, these new accounts are likely to show up on your credit report. You may catch an incident early if you order a free copy of your credit report periodically from any of the three major credit bureaus. See www.annualcreditreport.com for details on ordering a free annual credit report.

You can learn other ways to avoid email scams and deal with deceptive spam at ftc.gov/spam.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them.

Source: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt127.shtm