Don't be fooled by spam for drugs sent COD via FedEx
Today, MailWasher Pro automatically deleted 3 spam emails that were matched by my "Pharmaceuticals" filter, for an online pharmacy. What was different was that they were advertising that the drugs would be shipped C.O.D., via FedEx Courier Service. The words "FREE Rx" were included in both the Subject and Body text.
Here is an excerpt from one of the restored spam messages:
Get FDA approved meds from a US licensed pharmacy. FedEx overnight shipping. No Prior Prescription needed.Cash On Delivery.. pay to courier guy when your product arrive!
I hope none of my readers will fall for this trap. This is an illegal operation. US Citizens, residing in the USA, cannot import prescription drugs into the USA, by foot, car, truck, motorcycle, boat, airplane, satellite, balloon, mail or courier, from other Countries, with or without a prescription! Read the following excerpt from HealthInsurance.About.com:
Can I Bring Prescription Drugs I Buy in a Foreign Country into the U.S.?The FDA regulates prescription drugs made in the U.S. Under federal law it is illegal for anyone except a drug manufacturer to import prescription drugs into the U.S.
Additionally, the FDA does not allow the re-importation of medications. For example, if a drug company makes an FDA-approved prescription drug and sends that drug to a pharmacy in Canada, it is against the law for you to buy that drug in Canada and bring it back into the U.S.
It is against the law, in the USA, to purchase Federally controlled substances, like prescription and Schedule 4 drugs, anywhere, without a valid prescription. Therefore, the spam message quoted in the beginning of my article is promoting an illegal activity. Any Courier service who delivers illicit prescription drugs to a US location, is acting as an accomplice, whether they know the contents or not. If a FedEx driver does indeed deliver illegal to import drugs to you, in the USA, and collects money from you, both of you are violating US FDA laws. This is a Federal offense, punishable by hard time in prison and a huge fine (see my extended comments about penalties).
In my extended comments I will show you where these emails come from and where the supposed "US licensed pharmacy" is really located.
So, what are the penalties if you get caught trying to import prescription drugs into the USA from an online pharmacy?
Read this valuable information I found in the Wikipedia, about Online Pharmacies:
It is illegal to purchase controlled substances from an overseas pharmacy. A person purchasing a controlled substance from such a pharmacy may be violating two federal laws that carry stiff penalties. The act of importation of the drug from overseas violates 21 USC, Section 952 (up to 5 years in prison and $250,000 fine for importation of non-narcotic Schedule III, IV, or V drugs; possibly more for narcotics and Schedule I and II drugs). The act of simple possession of a controlled substance without a valid prescription violates 21 USC, Section 844 (up to 1 year in prison and $1,000 fine). FDA does not recognize online prescriptions; for a prescription to be valid there must be a face-to-face relationship between the patient and the health-care professional prescribing the drug. What exactly constitutes a "face-to-face" relationship is considered by many online pharmacies to be a subjective definition that would allow them to operate as an adjunct to the patient's own physician if the patient submits medical records documenting a condition for which the requested medication is deemed appropriate for treatment. Sections 956 and 1301 provide exemptions for travelers who bring small quantities of controlled substances in or out of the country in person, but not by mail.
I believe that I have established to any reasonable person that the online drugstores being spamvertised are illegal and buying controlled substances from them is a violation of US Federal law. So, let's move along to revealing where the pharmacy in my spam email is really located.
From the headers, we see:
Received: from [187.113.224.3] (helo=thybsmgf73p1u)
Subject: Order Discount Vicodin - FREE Rx - Cash on Delivery
WHOIS?
inetnum: 187.112.0.0/14
aut-num: AS18881
owner: Global Village Telecom
country: BR
This spam was sent from a botted home PC in Brazil.
The link in the message body goes to pay[...]delv dot com. I ran the URL through WannaBrowser and the website that it landed upon is located at 60.190.222.163.
WHOIS 60.190.222.163?
IP Address 60.190.222.163
Location CN CN, China
ISP CHINANET Zhejiang province network
AS Number AS4134 Chinanet
The AS4134 assignment is also used in numerous online scams and malware distribution systems, some of which I have written about in the last week, or two.
Back to the web page at the aforementioned URL. The images on the page show an American looking man and woman wearing white medical garments and stethoscopes The text in the images advertise "your favorite RX Medications" and "No Prescription Required." A huge list of all kinds of prescription medicines follow. Below the list there is a round gold banner proclaiming that they offer "Cash On Delivery shipping; Pay your Postman..." Below that is a FedEx logo, with the words Discreet Shipping under it. At the very bottom of the page are the words: "RightRx Ltd 2004-2011"
Since the pharmacy claims to be in operation since 2004, I ran a WHOIS on the domain name that they responded to. The results shows that this domain was just registered on June 17, 2011! It expires on June 17, 2012. The Registrant is listed as: BIZCN.COM, INC., located at: http://www.bizcn.com - a Chinese organization. Even the Name Servers are located in China.
Host pay...delv.com
DNS servers NS5.CNMSN.NET 219.136.249.5
NS6.CNMSN.NET 61.4.191.170
Host 219.136.249.5
Location CN CN, China
City Guangzhou, 30 -
Organization ChinaNet Guangdong Province Network
Host 61.4.191.170
Location CN CN, China
City Beijing, 22 -
Organization BeiJing FeiHuaLingHang Technology Development Co.
Epilog:
So, here we have a spam run promoting illegal to import drugs, sold without any prescription, by a website hosted in China, willing to drop ship counterfeit drugs to your doorstep, COD. C.O.D. might mean "Collect, Open, Die," in the case of Chinese drugs containing solvents or Melamine.
Don't fall for any online pharmacy scams, whether you are asked for a credit card on the spot, or they offer C.O.D. All of these spamvertised online pharmacies are unlicensed in the USA, are selling illegal to import prescription and Schedule 3 or 4 narcotics, and are distributing 100% counterfeit drugs.
People ordering drugs from such pharmacies could end up in the hospital, in the morgue, or in prison.
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