Malware as a side effect
Illegal drug trade on the Internet is flourishing. Such advertising often contains malware.
More than 100 countries recently took action against the trade in illegal medicines on the Internet in a week of action. In Germany, the Customs Criminal Investigation Office (ZKA) and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) coordinated the participation of law enforcement agencies.
Pangea is the name of the operation, which took place for the ninth time this year. Police authorities in Germany have been investigating 89 cases since the operation was completed against the mostly internationally organized operators of 60 Internet sites that distribute medicines that are not authorized in Germany, the criminal investigation departments write.
The aim of the action week is to restrict the supply of illegal products and, above all, to sensitize the population to the health risks associated with buying medicines on the Internet (cf. Flyer Buying medicines on the web). The authorities in Germany reportedly withdrew a total of 564 foreign letters and parcels containing 50,915 tablets, capsules and ampoules from circulation in just one week. Also this year, many potency drugs were among them.
Computer is spied out
Illegal medicines pose an incalculable health risk to consumers. Purchasing via the Internet is more popular than ever before. But medicines with the wrong active ingredient content or without any active ingredient, as well as preparations with components that are hazardous to health, are no longer a rarity in the illegal drug trade, according to the BKA. And it is not only the drugs that cause undesirable side effects: Spam mails advertising medicines often contain malware that spies on the victims' computers.
