Canadian Pharmacy? It’s a SCAM!

Today, I received an email from: VIAGRA@registeredreseller.com,

Of course the ‘registered reseller” was actually my own email address which had been “spoofed”. In case you don’t know what ‘spoofing” is, it is using your own email address as the sender so SPAM can get through your spam filters.

The email was a GIF, supposedly from WebMD, offering me Cialis, Viagra, and other types of medications at very low prices. But it wasn’t from WebMD- they simply hijacked a reputable company’s logo and used it.They even used WebMD’s corporate office address to make the email look valid!

At the bottom of the email was a message saying I had subscribed as, (it gave my real email address), which, of course, I never had. They had simply harvested my address from somewhere. They even offered an “unsubscribe” link, but when I hovered my mouse over the link, it displayed http://cilahiyus.cn, which was only the URL of the scam.

The email I received originated from: ppp89-110-14-97.pppoe.avangarddsl.ru. The originating IP address was 89.110.14.97. I easily traced the origination to Russia.

As I am naturally suspicious of any email with a link in it, there is no way I would click it on. Instead, I simply copied the link and pasted it into my browser window, and came up with exactly what I knew I would- another “Canadian Pharmacy” web site.

THey call themselves the “#1 online drug company” in their banner, but I can tell you, from several years of tracking these crooks, they are anything BUT that!

I know the web site looks official, but don’t be fooled by that.
There is no Canadian Pharmacy!
This is a bunch of criminals existing far beyond our borders, hiding out in countries where they can’t be reached by American or Canadian law!

THE FACTS BEHIND “CANADIAN PHARMACY”

The URL in this particular email – http://cilahiyus.cn won’t be found in any American “WHOIS” search. To do a “WHOIS” search of this site, you must go to http://ewhois.cnnic.cn/ , which is the registry lookup for domains ending in “cn”.

This is the information you will find there:

Domain Name: cilahiyus.cn
Registrant Name: (some Chinese characters)
Admin email: wz_727@yeah.net
Registrar: (more Chinese characters)
Name Server: ns1.fallleast.com
Name Server: ns2.fallleast.com
Name Server: ns3.fallleast.com
Name Server: ns3.6sd.ru
Name Server: ns4.6sd.ru

The registrant information for yeah.net is:

Registrant: Netease.com, inc.
8FL, Netease Building, No 16, KeYun Rd
ZhongShan Av, GuangZhou IT Harbor
Guangzhou, Guangdong 510665
China

In reality, the domain, http://cilahiyus.cn, is only one of several hundred other domain names, which these people use to promote “Canadian Pharmacy” .

THE “PITCH”

This outfit is really slick- nothing amateurish about it! It gives all appearances of being a “legitimate” online business, including a “Best Sellers” page,an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page, a “Contact Us” page, and even a “Report Spam” page, just to make themselves look good.

At the very bottom of the page they even list a telephone number (1-650-452-6975), which is supposedly a British Columbia phone number, but it is not! BC area codes are 250, 650, and 778. Area code 650 is assigned to the San Mateo Valley in California. Where this phone number actually connects to I’m not sure, but I wasn’t about to get a phone bill for some international phone call, so I didn’t check it out.

At the top of every “Canadian Pharmacy” website is an offer for 4 free Viagra pills with every order. Viagra’s active ingredient is sildenafil, which can be very dangerous, if taken with nitrate-type drugs, because it can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure, resulting in kidney failure, stroke, heart attack, and death. That’s why all legitimate ads for any type of potency drug insist you talk to your doctor first, and tell him about any other drugs you are taking.

But even worse than Viagra, the web site also offers the following drugs:

Accutane
Clomid
Prednisone
Doxycycline
Zithromax
Amoxil
Alli
Strattera
Lasix
Nexium
Cipro
Lipitor
Nolvadex

All of which require a prescription in the USA.

If these people are really selling any of these products, they are criminals of the worst sort! NO pharmacist in his right mind would sell anyone any of these drugs without a written prescription! He would have his license revoked in a heartbeat for doing so. Nor would any reputable physician allow these drugs to be dispensed without knowing who they were going to, what they were being taken for, and the patient’s general condition.

If they really are selling drugs, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of international law!

THE REASON BEHIND IT ALL

I’ve given you a lot of detail, because I want you to understand this is NOT a legitimate operation! If you ordered anything from them, chances are you would receive inferior products at best, and highly dangerous products at worst- if you received anything at all! But that’s not the reason this outfit exists.

The whole idea behind the Canadian Pharmacy scam is to get your personal information!
They are after your credit cards and bank accounts!
If you fill out an “order” at Canadian Pharmacy, they will ask for your name, address, telephone number, credit card number, expiration date, and the security code on the back of the card.

That’s all the information they need to clean you out! And, believe me, they will! They can access your bank account so quickly, it could be emptied before you leave their order page!

Any reputable online business puts their shopping cart on a secure server. You can identify this because it always starts with “https” (the “s” means secure). There will also always be a little lock at the bottom right hand corner of the page, just above the task bar. Here’s the “Canadian Pharmacy” shopping cart URL: http://cilahiyus.cn./cart.php – just a php page- no security of any kind.

The reason behind this is simple- secure pages are always encrypted, making it impossible to steal the information. Any page that isn’t secure is up for grabs! If it isn’t encrypted, the information is out there for anybody to steal. And steal it they will!

I’ve given you quite a bit of technical information about the Canadian Pharmacy scam, because you need to know they pose as a real legitimate business! But it isn’t technical information you should be concerned about. You should be concerned about avoiding these people like the plague! Don’t go anywhere near them! Don’t go to their web site! Don’t even click on the link in any email you get from them! The email could contain malaware that would reveal your IP address, and from it, they can learn all kinds of information about you, so you might become a victim and not even know it!

These criminals have been running this scam for several years, and stealing untold millions of dollars doing it.
They operate from China and Russia, and are totally without morals or scruples! They are after only one thing- your money! They will use any means to get it! They could care less about whether it ruins you or not.
They are heartless professional criminals.

But, if we simply refuse to open their email, or go to their web site, we have a chance of eventually putting a stop to them.

Don’t fall for this scam!
Don’t be taken in by the chance to get drugs for bargain prices, even if you need them! If you are short on cash, there are agencies in your city that can help you pay for your medications. It’s far better to go to them, and be safe, than try to get them on the cheap from “Canadian Pharmacy”. Believe me, what you thought was a “bargain” may turn out to be the worst mistake you ever made!

For your own sake, stay away from anything labeled Canadian Pharmacy!