Nearly all of the world’s 35,000 online pharmacies are operated illegally, according to the U.S. Trade Representative’s annual report on “notorious marketplaces,” putting consumers who use them at risk of receiving ineffective or dangerous medications. The report also covers 19 countries over concerns about counterfeit or pirated products.
The report also names nearly three dozen online retailers, many of whom are allegedly selling counterfeit products or engaged in other illegal activities in China or elsewhere in Asia.
The report said 96% of online pharmacies were found to be in violation of the law, with many operating without licenses and selling drugs without prescriptions and safety warnings.
The report released on Wednesday said their websites often look like legitimate e-commerce platforms, often with false claims that they are approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Both the FDA and the US Drug Enforcement Administration have issued warnings about the risks of purchasing prescription drugs from such sources.
It cites a survey by the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies Global Foundation, which found that nearly one in four Americans who use online pharmacies reported encountering substandard, counterfeit or harmful medications.
Last year, federal prosecutors reported that a network of illegal drug dealers based in the U.S., the Dominican Republic and India packed potentially deadly synthetic opioids into pills masquerading as generic prescription drugs, federal prosecutors said Monday. And millions of them were sold through fake online drug stores. , The indictment says at least nine people died from drug poisoning between August 2023 and June 2024 after taking the counterfeit pills.
In addition to the risks of using drugs that may contain inactive ingredients or that can cause allergies, the drugs are sometimes made in unsanitary conditions, the report said, adding that it did not provide annual statistics for those. who may die or otherwise be harmed.
Progress in fighting counterfeit and pirated goods
USTR’s annual report cites examples inside the United States, but also notes the risks of imported materials, including fentanyl, from China. Many illegal online pharmacies are located outside the US
The “Notorious Bazaar List” praised the progress in fighting counterfeit and pirated goods.
In one case, U.S. authorities, industry groups, and police cooperated to shut down a Hanoi, Vietnam-based piracy ring, Fmovies, and other related piracy sites in July and August.
The world’s largest pirated movie site received more than 6.7 billion visits from January 2023 to June 2024, the report said.
In another case involving Vietnam, two men who operated the pirate television platform BestBuyIPTV were convicted and ordered to pay fines and seize assets.
The report also cites a crackdown on online piracy in Brazil and the United Kingdom and the busting of sellers of counterfeit purses, clothes and shoes in Kuwait.
But the problem remains with cyberlockers that thwart efforts to restrict piracy of movies and other content, and so-called “bulletproof” Internet service providers, or ISPs, that promise to give people a free pass for using pirate sites. Let’s do it, it said.
One such ISP is Avito, a Russian-based advertising platform that reportedly lets sellers advertise counterfeit products.
Baidu Wangpan, the cloud storage service of Baidu, China’s largest search engine provider, was named for allegedly failing to enforce copyright protections or being slow to operate.
The report also points to social-commerce site Pinduoduo and Chinese online platform Douyin Mall, owned by TikTok owner ByteDance. It said that shopping platforms have sought to build security but they still host many counterfeit goods.
It also named Singapore-based online and mobile e-commerce site Shopee, saying that some country-focused platforms serving Southeast Asia and South America have a better track record in fighting piracy than others. Are.
It added that IndiaMart, a large business-to-business marketplace in India, still offers counterfeit products.
While a large portion of intellectual property theft has taken place online, the report also highlights real-world locations notorious for selling counterfeit products, including markets in Turkey, markets in the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City. The city includes the Saigon Square shopping mall.
Bangkok’s MBK Centre, a massive mall of about 2,000 stores, has actively cracked down on counterfeiting, although such products can still be found there, the report said.