Buying prescription drugs online has always been a risky endeavor. Customers have been duped by fraudsters who ship placebos and collect their cash. Or they may not ship at all and just keep the money. As if that weren't bad enough, the Drug Enforcement Agency is now claiming people are being foiled again using a new scheme.
Impersonating DEA agents, the criminals are using these transactions to call the customers back and threaten arrest for violating drug import laws if they don't wire money to the fraudsters. Some people have caved in and paid the money only to realize the scheme too late. Who falls for these crimes? The elderly usually are easy prey to these. This is due in part being the largest consumer base of online pharmacies due to the availability of less expensive drugs sold from overseas merchants. Often, they do not understand the drug import laws and are more likely to not question seemingly authentic authority figure to avoid further trouble.
According to The Denver Channel,
“I’m 52 years old. And I feel like the stupidest person on the earth. Why didn’t I listen to my husband. Why didn’t I do something different? Why am I so darn trusting after all these years?” said a Jefferson County woman who asked to be known only as Elizabeth.As you might have guessed or known, it is a crime to impersonate a federal agent. The DEA is asking anyone receiving a telephone call from a person purporting to be a DEA special agent or other law enforcement official seeking money to refuse the demand and report the threat by calling 877-792-2873.
She's cooperating with the DEA now and said she had purchased a weight-loss product online earlier this fall, and soon started getting phone calls at home from three different men, claiming a connection with the DEA.
Elizabeth said she wired nearly $10,000 to individuals in the Dominican Republic, believing she was avoiding jail time.
For further information, the DEA has a page regarding the scam at:
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubs/pressreleases/extortion_scam.htm
