We’ve warned you that you’re better off staying away from so-called no prescription pharmacies. Now a member of Canada’s parliament wishes these pharmacy scammers had stayed away from him.

As the CBC reports:

Fredericton Conservative MP Keith Ashfield is learning a hard lesson about how the internet has changed the old question: what’s in a name? The federal cabinet minister registered the domain name keithashfield.ca during the 2008 election to promote his candidacy.

But Ashfield, now the minister of state for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, let the registration lapse, which allowed someone else to take over the domain name.

The new owner is using the page for a totally different purpose than politics. Now if someone is looking for information on the Fredericton politician, they won’t find it at keithashfield.ca. What they will find are details on how to buy prescription drugs “with no prescription.”

The site lists various drugs available from overseas pharmacies without a prescription including OxyContin, Ritalin and diazepam.

“Obviously it doesn’t make me very happy,” Ashfield said. “But in this day of technology, obviously I’ve learned a lesson from this.”

Scam pharmacies don’t all sell bad or counterfeit drugs.  That’s right — some of them don’t sell any drugs at all!

And scam pharmacies — many of them billing themselves as “no prescription” pharmacies — don’t always use your credit card numbers to charge you for drugs, either.  That’s because some of them don’t even have a merchant account that allows them to process credit cards!

You see, getting a merchant account isn’t easy, and takes a little time.  And fly-by-night operators like things to be easy.

So what these so-called pharmacies will do is put up a quick-and-dirty Web site using a free template and begin sending out spam e-mails to attempt to draw you to the site.  Once you’re there, they will pretend to sell you medications with no prescription — and they will take your credit card number and other personal information to pretend to charge your credit card.

And of course, they would charge you if they could — but they can’t, since they don’t have a merchant account.

So instead, they just hang on to your credit card information for future use.  Say, to buy a new high-definition TV — or a dozen of them.  Or for some other scam they’re concocting.

Of course, we hope you’ve already learned enough to avoid this kind of no prescription pharmacy site, but in the event you’ve given out your card number and you’re having second thoughts or concerns, here’s what you should do:

After you place an order, give your bank a call two or three days later to see if it was charged. If it has not been charged, you should immediately call the pharmacy to ask why.  

If you don’t get a good explanation, you probably need to cut up that credit card and get a new one.

Spam Trackers has an informative article exposing some of the tricks and lies used by online pharmacies that send out spam e-mails. As we’ve reported before, very few people open these e-mails — but those who do are at risk of purchasing counterfeit drugs or having their money (or even their identities) stolen.

Among the deceptions used by these pharmacy scammers, as revealed by Spam Trackers:

• The sites falsely claim to take your credit card over a secure connection, but the protocol is unsecure http.
• The sites show a picture of a Verisign certificate, but it is fraudulent.
• The sites claim to have approval from the American Drug Administration (ADA) — a non-existent entity. The ADA logo used is a knockoff of the FDA logo.
• The sites display the PharmacyChecker.com seal — but have not been approved by PharmacyChecker.com.
• The sites display a CIDA seal — claiming to be a member of the Canadian International Drug Association, a non-existent entity. The logo is a knockoff of the logo of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA)
• The sites claim to be based in Canada — but are actually based in Russia and other countries known for rogue pharmacies.

When you join No Prescription Needed, you don’t have to worry about being scammed by these rogue pharmacies. Every pharmacy in our network has been approved by the real PharmacyChecker.com, as well as organizations such as CIPA.

So, what are you waiting for? Join us today!

The good news about e-mail spam is that Americans are becoming smarter about it. Thanks to technology that blocks spam from our inboxes and our own knowledge of what spam looks like, the vast majority of those who receive spam e-mails do not respond to them.

For example, a recent study by the University of California Berkeley and University of California San Diego found that 350 million pharmacy spam e-mails sent out by the Storm botnet resulted in only 28 visits to the offending pharmacy’s purchase page.

The bad news is, even with a miniscule response rate like that, spam is still profitable.

And as such, we’re seeing a new wave of holiday-themed spam around Valentine’s Day. In the case of online pharmacy solicitations, you can guess what that spam is promoting — Viagra, Cialis and Levitra.

As PC World reports:

It’s a time for romance, for Cupid’s arrow, and perhaps a male enhancement drug from a fake online pharmacy. Valentine’s day spam and scams are showing up in inboxes in anticipation of the upcoming holiday. The messages, with timely sales pitches like “Increase your length, the best valentine’s gift,” join a flood of other crap mail …

The publication says that, despite efforts to control it, spam currently accounts for about 79 percent of all e-mail.

The FDA, once the most respected of federal agencies, has had its effectiveness stripped away over the past decade because of budget slashing and the creeping influence of large pharmaceutical companies in its decision-making. A de-fanged FDA has been no match for greedy Big Pharma in stopping Vioxx and other questionable drugs from reaching the marketplace.

Now more than ever, you need to be your own watchdog — your own FDA — in deciding what you ingest and what you don’t. And that’s especially true when it comes to supplements, which are largely unregulated by the FDA.

Dr. Mike Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz suggest asking yourself the following five questions when buying supplements or food products claiming to “fortified” with nutritional or other health benefits :

1. Is this the best way to get the nutrients I need?

Here’s all most of us need to fill any gaps in our diet: a moderate-dose multivitamin, cut in half and taken morning and night, plus additional supplements for vitamin D (1,000-1,200 IU per day), calcium-plus-magnesium (600 mg calcium plus 200 mg magnesium twice a day) and B 12 (25 micrograms). If you like soft drinks, enjoy a no-calorie version once in a while, but there’s no way they can make up for nutrients you should be getting every day.

2. Does the health claim make sense?

FDA rules say products can’t claim to treat or cure diseases, but marketers are sneaky. Be skeptical. Sorry, but as of now you can’t take a “miracle” weight-loss pill and eat what you want “without worry.” And a cholesterol-lowering supplement won’t make your numbers plummet in a few weeks…

3. Can I reach the same health goal by a safer route?

Losing weight with a questionable product may bring on far more problems than the extra pounds did, especially if substances in the supplement interact with other medications you’re taking. Eating smart (lots of fruits, vegetables and fiber) and exercising regularly might take a little longer, but it won’t land you in the emergency room…

4. Is it really safe?

Don’t assume that over-the-counter drugs are harmless. Fact is, almost anything can be harmful when taken in large enough doses for a long enough time, especially when combined with other supplements or meds you may be taking.

5. Is it USP-verified?

When we … buy supplements, we look for the “USP verified” mark on the label. This means the United States Pharmacopeia, a reliable nonprofit science organization, has tested and verified its contents. It’s the best evidence that a supplement actually contains the ingredients listed on the label, in the quantities claimed, and that it doesn’t contain contaminants. You can find a list of supplements tested by the USP at www.usp.org.