Fake Pharmacy Licenses, No-Prescription Meds OK with Internet Companies, LegitScript Reports

PORTLAND, Ore., May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report identifies five Internet companies, including Bellevue-based eNom, providing domain name registration services to "rogue" Internet pharmacies that display fake pharmacy licenses or sell prescription drugs without a prescription.

Between December 2009 and April 2010, Internet compliance firms LegitScript and KnujOn provided sixteen domain name registrars with evidence that their services were being abused by rogue Internet pharmacies. The evidence included letters from pharmacy licensing boards stating that the pharmacy licenses displayed on the websites were forgeries and screen-shots showing that the websites were selling prescription drugs like OxyContin or Viagra without a prescription.

According to the report, eleven of the registrars suspended services to the websites, but five others, eNom (DemandMedia), UK2Group, Moniker, CentroHost and Realtime Register, allowed some or all of the websites to continue using their paid services.

"We applaud Registrars like GoDaddy, SpiritDomains and Directi who acted swiftly to ensure that their registration services are not being used to facilitate criminal activity," LegitScript President John Horton said. "We urge eNom, UK2Group and CentroHost to explain why they are the only Registrars that received evidence that these pharmacy licenses are forgeries but still allow these no-prescription-required websites to use their paid services."

The report also criticizes Registrars eNom, Moniker and Realtime Register for allowing the continuing use of their services by websites selling drugs like OxyContin, Xanax or "generic Viagra" without requiring a valid prescription.

The study focuses on an Internet drug ring called "EvaPharmacy" consisting of over 8,000 online pharmacies that display fake pharmacy licenses supposedly from the US and Canada. A test purchase from an eNom-registered EvaPharmacy site resulted in drugs that arrived from India without a prescription.

Garth Bruen, KnujOn's President, said: "Our research puts illicit pharmacy at the center of all cybercrime: spam, WHOIS fraud, malware, and domain hijackings. The dirty little secret about this kind of cybercrime is that it only exists because Registrars tolerate it."

LegitScript is the world's largest Internet pharmacy verification program and is recognized by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. KnujOn is the premier Internet compliance company and has exposed complex networks used to promote and distribute narcotics, pirated media, and knockoff merchandise. The report is available at legitscript.com and knujon.com.

SOURCE LegitScript