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Fake Tamiflu "Out-Spams Viagra On Web"

Posted by Soulskill on from the stiff-competition dept.

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.

17 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. RE: she will cry in bed! by jciarlan · · Score: 2, Funny

    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!

  2. Swines with Boners by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    so I guess when people end up with the flu _and_ a boner perhaps they'll know better next time!

  3. Who the @#&* purchases from spam? by Green+Salad · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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?

    1. Re:Who the @#&* purchases from spam? by sakdoctor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Quick, this is our chance to rid the world of the types of people who buy viagra, and fake tamiflu advertised in spam.

      Which poison would be best?

    2. Re:Who the @#&* purchases from spam? by brainfsck · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Whatever the hell they put in the fake "medicine" would probably do the trick all by itself.

  4. Do these actually do business? by DJRumpy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

    1. Re:Do these actually do business? by meyekul · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

      Yeah, nobody would buy drugs off a street corner... wtf

    2. Re:Do these actually do business? by tlhIngan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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?

      There is another possibility - dumb businesses. A spammer's business model is to send out X spam for $Y. That's it. Business wants to do "marketing" by email, they'll pay say, $1000 for a campaign of 10,000,000 addresses (number made up). Spammer does it, and goes on with his next customer.

      Business doing the marketing may never make back that $1000 (and never use such services again), but it doesn't matter to the spammer. All the spammer sees is row upon row of people wanting "marketing" services. As long as people are lining up and paying him, he doesn't care if 99.9999% of the people never see the email, and of the remaining, all but one delete it, and the last one purchases.

      As long as people believe it works and are willing to pay good money for it, it'll continue happening.

  5. Doesn't make much sense by basementman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

    --
    A Magic the Gathering Article and Forum Aggregator
  6. Tired of response bashing... by logicfuzzy · · Score: 5, Insightful
    You know, I'm kind of tired of this bashing of the swine flu "hysteria". All reports coming from Mexico, since confirmed by studies, have shown that younger people were much more highly afflicted by this flu (I believe almost 50% were younger adults), and it seemed to be spreading very quickly. This was early information that was very alarming and showed it may become something very pandemic-like. Since then, some of this information has changed, or the virus may have mutated and become less deadly, but some of the pandemic-like characteristics still remain. Even the spanish flu started milder in the summer before it really broke out.

    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.

  7. Tamiflu is a joke by wiredlogic · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.
    1. Re:Tamiflu is a joke by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My wife went to Hong Kong with our son and her parents right at the start of the swine flu panic. She got her sister to write her a prescription for tamiflu and they took it with them on their trip along with face masks which (looking at the pictures they brought back) they wore a lot of the time.

      Personally if I had to wear a mask to go to another country I just wouldn't go, but maybe thats just me. The tamiflu was useless as well. My wife's sister, who is a doctor, says when you go to the hospital don't touch the buttons and hand rails in the lift, because sick people use the lift. Doctors take the stairs.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    2. Re:Tamiflu is a joke by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

      It's best used for prophylaxis - start taking it either right after contact with an infected person or take it for the 'duration' of the outbreak. Of course, the former is difficult to manage as people are asymptomatic but contagious for up to 72 hours after themselves being infected and the latter a bit of a drag if the 'duration' lasts several months. Tamiflu would be most useful for medical personnel and to try to stop the spread from known contacts.

      But you're right. Random folks popping the drug whenever they think they need it and stopping it at whenever they perceive the threat over isn't going to be very useful and could well contribute to drug resistant influenza - what joy!

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    3. Re:Tamiflu is a joke by wiredlogic · · Score: 5, Informative

      It is very unwise to use Tamiflu as a prophylactic. It has neurological side effects, sometimes severe enough to induce suicidal behavior. Taking it like it's as harmless as a vitamin pill is courting danger. It is also reckless and irresponsible to keep the general populace in the dark by promoting it as wonder cure and causing the sort of over consumption that actually makes it profitable for the drug spammers to make money off the foolish.

      --
      I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
  8. Given that Tamiflu is a pharma scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

  9. The cure for spam... by dmbasso · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... 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
  10. Stupid question, obviously you have no idea by yooy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    > 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...