Recommendations for Purchasing Medicines Over the Internet

Make sure the site requires a prescription and has a pharmacist available for questions. Don’t provide personal information such as credit card numbers unless you are sure the site will protect them.

Buying prescription medicine from fraudulent online pharmacies can be dangerous, or even deadly. At best, counterfeit medicines are fakes of approved drugs and should be considered unsafe and ineffective. These medicines may be less effective or have unexpected side effects.

In addition to health risks, most fraudulent online pharmacies may put your personal and financial information at risk. Some intentionally misuse the information you provide. These sites may infect your computer with viruses, and they may sell your information to other illegal websites and Internet scams.

Avoid online pharmacies that:

Allow you to buy drugs without a prescription or by completing an online questionnaire
Offer discounts or cheap prices that seem too good to be true
Send unsolicited email or other spam offering cheap medicine
Ship prescription drugs worldwide
State that the drugs will be shipped from a foreign country
Are not licensed by a state board of pharmacy in the United States (or equivalent state health authority)

No, it may not be obvious that an online pharmacy is fake. Many illegal online pharmacies use fake “storefronts” to make you think they are real pharmacies. Fraudulent sellers run fake online pharmacy scams to exploit American consumers by pretending to be legitimate pharmacies offering prescription medicines for sale. However, the products they provide may be fake, expired and otherwise unsafe. In fact, many online pharmacy scams are so sophisticated that even health care professionals can have a hard time detecting illegal sites at first glance

We recommend , for Canada, to check Canadian Pharmacy for safe online medication shopping.

The Internet provides consumers with instant access to information and services, including online pharmacies for prescription medicines. Health insurance plans are encouraging home delivery of maintenance medications and use of pharmacy services online. As the cost of prescription medicine continues to increase, consumers may look for cost savings from online pharmacies to afford their medicines. In addition, many consumers value the convenience and privacy of purchasing their medicines online. For those consumers that may be considering purchasing from online sources that are not associated with health insurance plans or local pharmacy, these consumers need to know the risks of buying from fraudulent online pharmacies.