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Fake Tamiflu "Out-Spams Viagra On Web"
cin62 writes "The number of Internet scammers offering fake versions of the anti-swine flu drug Tamiflu has surpassed those selling counterfeit Viagra, reports CNN. Since the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, was declared a global pandemic last month, there has been an increase in the number of Web sites and junk emails offering Tamiflu for sale. 'Every Web site that used to sell Viagra is now selling Tamiflu. We are pretty sure that the same people are making the Tamiflu as are making the Viagra,' said Director of Policy for the UK's Royal Pharmaceutical Society."
This news fits in nicely with a report Wired ran a couple weeks ago about the hysteria behind H1N1.
Because on the 'net, everyone knows how stupid you are. Half fillled with stupid moronic suckers. I know, because I know.
Ben Dover
Son of King Lhalid, Nigeria
Dear sir or madam, I would like to inform of a new courtesy drug ranging in 50% off! Help protecting swine flu from child or pet!
so I guess when people end up with the flu _and_ a boner perhaps they'll know better next time!
Silly goose -- it's impotent swine with the flu.
Caveat Utilitor
No, red headline means they still haven't fixed that fucking bug.
I'd like to know who purchases from spam. They need punishment.. What's their typical profile? Do they live in a cave? ...and still have internet?
I just can't come to grips with the fact that people will actually order stuff like this off the net. It would be no different than taking random drugs you bought off the street corner. It just seems insane to me.
I'm also curious if any countries take steps to actively stamp these out? It seems like it should be fairly simple to figure out where these are based. I can only assume they are based in counties with no extradition laws?
Honestly I'm suprised they are selling Tamiflu. First, the hype from swine flu is over for the time being and I don't see many people losing sleep over it. Second, Tamiflu is the kind of drug most people would just buy from legit sources, unlike facing the possible embarrassment when buying Viagra. And finally the company selling it would be in whole hell of a lot more trouble if someone died as a result of a fake vaccine than if someone just couldn't get hard on.
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And, nobody really knew what this early information meant. Even in April, some universities estimated the worst-case in the united states will be approximately 1,000 by May 18th (link) while the try number of cases was AT least 5x that (link). The actual cases were probably much more, and by july it was estimated at around a million in the US. Sure, it was becoming clearer that the death rate was small by then, but this couldn't have been known earlier on.
The response to this information was nothing draconian: no viruses were mandated or anything like that. People were simply asked to wash their hands, avoid coming out if sick, etc. Schools were shut down, but again not that big of a deal. Obviously the majority of the big cities in Mexico, the epicenter, were shut down. The only possible conspiracy-theory type reasoning that may be true is that companies making tamiflu and other drugs made a lot of money off of this. Without additional evidence, that doesn't mean the "hysteria" was manufactured.
All in all, everybody go to exercise their preparedness responses, and improve on them if they were deficient. I think the response, while probably not perfect, was pretty impressive actually.
Red headline means subscribers only. Subscribers get to see articles before they are published. But due to a bug, sometimes the subscribers-only tag is removed a few seconds _after_ the article goes live. If you are lucky enough to visit /. right at that time, you get a red headline.
Thank for reading to the sig. You may stop reading now. It is safe. There is no more content. Why are you still reading?
If I was her, I'd cry too.
Om, nomnomnom...
I don't understand why people go apeshit over this drug. It is not a vaccine. It has only been demonstrated to reduce the duration of illness by just one day. And that only works if you take it within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms at which point you may not know if you have the flu or an ordinary cold. It's amazing that they conned the US government into stockpiling it when it does so little and doesn't save lives.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Tamiflu is nothing but a scam. You have to take it before you actually get the flu ..... no real evidence it actually works. Yet you pay $100+ for 10 pills.
I got the flu and was dumb enough to pay for Tamiflu out of my own pocket. I could had just swallow a couple of Skittles to get the same results. Not a single day of improvement, not a single degree of fever dropped. Not even a little less congestion. Nothing .... if you don't count the $100 of wasted money.
From this article in the guardian it seems that Tamiflu has a measurable effect, but not markedly. You might get better 2/3 of a day earlier after taking it. I think I'd take it if prescribed but wouldn't pay huge money for it or join in a riot to get the last tablet from a pharamcy.
What's the connection? Rumsfeld Gilead Roche. Our government buys tamiflu up for the armed forces.... Connect the dots. Another Republican gold mine. Can anyone say healthcare reform?
... is to educate people, so we have less stupid buyers, the targets of spammers. But most of those stupid persons prefers to remain stupid, so spam is here to stay.
Now that I think about it, that also applies to Windows, Internet Explorer, viruses (biological and computerized ones), most elected politicians, etc.
Corollary: the category of plagues is bound by stupidity.
`echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
it is because people there don't have a health-care system....
be a dumbass and don't be insured..
Credit cards offered a service for a small fee which would warn a purchaser before making a purchase from a possibly fraudulent retailer? Like a real-time blackhole list for purchasers, only instead of blocking the consumer it simply warns them of a possible risk?
:-)
I might not be interested in something like this but if it wasn't grossly mis-managed or more then a few dollars I'd probably recommend it to my family and friends if they asked me about it. Of course when Amazon files the patent for this maybe this post can stand as prior art.
I'd love to see unobtrusive consumer protections be made available that didn't brainlessly give away the consumers privacy.
Quack, quack.
> I just can't come to grips with the fact that people will actually order stuff like this off the net.
> It would be no different than taking random drugs you bought off the street corner. It just seems insane to me.
Actually it isn't. A lot of this stuff comes out of pharmaceutical companies that either have FDA approval or work on a similar level. There is no "world wide patent". It would also to expensive to patent a drug world wide (let's say every African country). Some Viagra, as far as I know, comes from India. Pfizer might not, by whatever reason, have a patent there. Hence drugs from offshore pharmacies can be both, the real deal AND legal by using loop-holes.
Can you get pills that contain nothing or a wrong ingredient? Yes you can. But sorry to break the news to you, it is also well possible that you get counterfeit drugs from your own local pharmacy without you or them knowing. Your statement would then become "I just can't come to grips with the fact that people will actually buy stuff in pharmacies and don't pick it off from the manufacturer like Pfizer..."
A wide field...
Tamiflu appear to work by preventing the spread of the virus. In other words, you still get it but only in a "light" form. It can also be used preventative, but AFAIK that actually appears to require more of the drug than when you take it as recommended (within 36h of first symptoms).
Generic Tamiflu info can be found at the Roche website.
If you get a decent flu you can become quite ill which can have all sorts of unpleasant side effects. Roche mentions this in the leaflet that comes with the product although they state they're not quite sure what is Tamiflu and what is "just" the flu (I guess that keeps the lawyers happy):
During Tamiflu treatment, events like convulsions and delirium (including symptoms such as altered level of consciousness, confusion, abnormal behaviour, delusions, hallucinations, agitation, anxiety, nightmares) have been reported, in a very few cases resulting in accidental injury, in some instances with fatal outcome. These events were reported primarily among children and adolescents and often had an abrupt onset and rapid resolution. The contribution of Tamiflu to those events is unknown. Such neuropsychiatric events have also been reported in patients with influenza who were not taking Tamiflu.
So, like Viagra, a lot of promise but certainly not one to take without medical supervision. Besides, The Real Thing is shockingly expensive (IMHO)..
Insert
The 1 day reduction is an average, and it doesn't tell you about what else it does.
I had a regular flu and was prescribed Tamiflu (it's prescribed routinely in Europe); it does reduce the severity of symptoms. How do I know? I forgot to take a dose and noticed it right away.
Tamiflu is not a magic bullet against the flu and it has significant side effects. It's not something you want to take if you're just feeling a little ill. But it does have benefits and I suspect it would save some lives when used in an epidemic.
Tamiflu isn't exactly easy to come by. If there's not an actual shortage now, there is already a perceived shortage in the minds of some people, and that is causing them to try to hoard it for when they get sick. If you're in the market for many, many doses of an obscure drug, you're probably talking about a decent chunk of change. A spammer who's offering you tamiflu at below market rates starts to look attractive. You convince yourself that it's legit medicine that just "fell off the back of a truck," i.e. someone stole it or embezzled it and that's why it's being offered so cheaply.
Breakfast served all day!