Rogue online pharmacies are putting thousands of people’s lives at risk in Britain by doling out painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety tablets without a prescription. Many of the drugs are fake, The Sunday Times can reveal.
The bogus suppliers use sophisticated techniques to attract customers, including engineering positive online ratings and tricking Google into listing them on the first page of search results.
One expert warned that illicit providers often make pills stronger by mixing them with other chemicals — rather like “pouring vodka into a bottle of wine”.
In reality, the pharmacies — many of which are registered to anonymous Russian owners and hosted by web servers in China — are not registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council, the independent regulator, and do not