I am sure if you sift through your spam filter right now, you could easily find a few emails asking you to check out some “new low prices” on Viagra and Cialis. That is why spammers are having to come up with new ways to infiltrate your inbox.

The newest method of attacking your inbox, is by attaching audio files to an empty email.  The email usually has no message, subject line, or “text” body content; just an attached “audio/mpeg” file with a random lower case file name. (Click here for an example)

When the file is clicked on, a woman’s voice comes on reading a the address of a website suggesting you to visit, all the while, there is some not-so-subtle moaning in the background. Obviously the clips are being used specifically for Viagra and Cialis in order to tie the lifestyle drugs to better performance in the bed.

This is just another example of the length spammers will go to in order to get their message into your inbox.

Remember, never buy any medication from these spam sites. Find safe sites to order your prescription medication from here at No Prescription Needed.com.

What if millions of spam e-mails were sent out every day with your name — or your company’s name — on them? What do you think that would do to your reputation?

Unfortunately, this is a nightmare that many legitimate Canadian pharmacies are living today.

As ITBusiness.ca reports:

“To most people, ‘Canadian Pharmacy’ means just another spam e-mail message promising cheap Viagra pills that is deleted in microseconds – but to David Zimmer, it’s a reputation nightmare for his business.

“Zimmer is the owner of Winnipeg-based The Canadian Pharmacy, a small company that legitimately sells pharmaceuticals over the Internet to American customers…

“But when his company is confused with the almost identically-named spammer group, his reputation takes a drubbing. ‘It’s a big pain for us,’ he says. He says he gets inundated with complaints from angry victims of these spammers who haven’t received their medication.”

The most frustrating part is, these spam operations aren’t based in Canada at all. The biggest, in fact, is the Russian-based organization that calls itself “Canadian Pharmacy.” It sends as many as 60 billion spam e-mails per day. It has been known to ship counterfeit and adulterated medications to unwitting consumers who order from its many sites.

Says Zimmer:

“I’ve considered changing our brand,” he says. “When people confuse us with Canadian Pharmacy, that hurts our ability to market ourselves by word of mouth.”

It doesn’t help matters that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry has taken advantage of the confusion and tried to tar legitimate pharmacies with the same brush as rogue spammers — a dishonest but effective PR ploy that has duped more than a few members of the U.S. news media.

As rumors swirl that pop superstar Michael Jackson may have been killed by an accidental overdose of Demerol, Diprivan and other medications, it is ironic that shady prescription drug pushers are still abusing the King of Pop, even after his death.

That’s right. No-prescription pharmacy scammers are using Michael Jackson’s death as the bait in their latest spam e-mail campaigns.

According to the Xinhua news agency:

Computer security firms are warning users to be vigilant about spam messages capitalizing on the sudden death of U.S. pop star Michael Jackson. Security firm Sophos … reported that about eight hours after Jackson’s death, its experts witnessed the first wave of spam messages taking advantage of the breaking news in the subject line and body of the email.

In these messages, the spammers claimed that they have vital information about the death of Michael Jackson to share and asked for a reply … [Experts] said users should be wary of spam emails offering links to “news” or “pictures” of deceased celebrities, which most of the time will lead to websites touting pharmacy products …

The spammers have outdone themselves again.

We’ve written previously about online pharmacy scams that include the use of fake seals from organizations like PharmacyChecker.com, VIPPS and the CIPA.

I came across a case this week where someone was tempted by this ruse. From a Q&A column in a Florida newspaper:

“For months I’ve been getting online pharmacy e-mails and am skeptical about their legitimacy. Claim to be U.S.-based store, no prescription needed. Even lists codeine and OxyContin as well as Viagra. It’s tempting but am very leery of an illegal scam.” — Ted P., Port Charlotte.

Ted’s e-mail solicitation was short and direct: “You can buy any meds you need! Forget about prescriptions and doctors. Save your money now! Go visit http://pillzcctop.com.”

The site — US Healthcare Inc. — claims, “We care about your health.” Displayed at the bottom are both the Better Business Bureau logo and the PharmacyChecker.com seal. The latter indicates that a Web site markets prescription drugs dispensed from a pharmacy in good standing. There’s no phone number or address for US Healthcare.

Not only does it offer the painkiller OxyContin, but the depressants Valium and Xanax as well as the stimulant Ritalin. All are among the most commonly abused prescription drugs, according to the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse.

William Raggio with PharmacyChecker.com confirmed the seal on the site is an invalid image and that the company has never even applied for qualification. Karen Nalvin at the BBB West Florida confirmed its logo was a fake since it didn’t link to the BBB when clicked.

It’s the easiest thing in the world for a rogue pharmacy to grab a PharmacyChecker, VIPPs, CIPA or BBB seal from a legitimate Web site and then place it on their own. It literally takes just a few clicks of the mouse. The wonders of Web technology, right?

The good news is, it’s not too difficult to check to make sure a seal is being used legitimately. These verification authorities generally have lists of all authorized pharmacies on their sites, and if they don’t, they will respond to your call or e-mail.

Of course, as a member of our site, you don’t have to worry about this — because we do this background check for you. We guarantee that all pharmacies in our network have been approved by PharmacyChecker.com and other verification authorities, and that all are licensed and accredited in their home countries.

The FBI recently published an excellent article on its Web site on the topic of Internet pharmacy safety. Here it is in its entirety:

DON’T PUT YOUR HEALTH
In the Hands of Crooks

It couldn’t be easier—ordering prescription drugs online with a few clicks of the mouse and having them delivered right to your door, without ever having to see a doctor.

But is it safe? Is it legal?

Often not. And you need to know the risks.

Yes, there are plenty of legitimate U.S. pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies (including online ones) that follow all the laws and regulations and put public safety first.

But there are many that don’t—they are just out to make a fast buck at your expense. These shady businesses fill orders without prescriptions. They pay doctors just to take a quick glance at your brief medical questionnaire. They don’t know if you are drug-addicted, underage, or have another condition that their medications could make worse. And they don’t care.

Worse yet, the products they peddle are questionable, at best. The drugs may be way past their expiration date. They may be counterfeit, mislabeled, adulterated, or contaminated. And they may well be made from suspect raw materials in underground laboratories in the U.S. and abroad, far from the safety-conscious eyes of the Food and Drug Administration.

Part of the problem is that these illegal pharmacies are all over the Internet. More than 80,000 “portal” websites currently sell ad space for these medications and link to one of more than 1,400 “anchor” websites that allow customers to place orders through illegal pharmacies. You don’t even have to search for these offers—they often come straight to your inbox as e-mail spam, enticing you with a cornucopia of drugs on the cheap.

Are there ways to tell whether an online pharmacy is legal? Definitely, and here’s what to look for. Legitimate pharmacies:

• Require a prescription from a licensed doctor, usually by mail (if they accept a fax copy, they will always call your doctor to verify the prescription);
• Make you submit a detailed medical history;
• Clearly state their payment, privacy, and shipping fees on their sites; and
• Use secure or encrypted website connections for transactions.

Many legitimate online pharmacies are also certified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy—check its website for a listing. Bear in mind, some of the larger Internet pharmacies may not be certified because of their already well-recognized names.

To help protect you, the FBI has made Internet pharmacy fraud one of its top health care fraud priorities. We work—and train—with federal investigators from our partner agencies. We also work closely with state and local law enforcement, and, because many illegal online pharmacies have global connections, we often coordinate with our overseas partners.

Just one example of a major crackdown: in August 2007, a San Diego grand jury handed down a 313-count indictment against 18 people, charging them with operating an illegal online pharmacy that netted more than $126 million over a two-year period. Incredibly, this network—which included everyone from doctors and druggists to credit card processors and affiliated websites that advertised the illegal wares—allegedly received over a million Internet orders from customers in all 50 states.

Our bottom-line advice: do your homework and steer clear of illegal Internet pharmacies, even if the prices are tempting. It’s your health, after all.

The one important caveat we would add is that while the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy is an excellent resource for verifying U.S. pharmacies, it does not certify Canadian pharmacies.

To identify legitimate, licensed Canadian pharmacies, the most respected verification sources are the Canadian International Pharmacy Association and PharmacyChecker.com. PharmacyChecker is the verification authority used by Google.

Amy Pain seemed to have everything going for her. Beautiful. Intelligent. Only 22. The daughter of a highly respected archdeacon of the Anglican Church in Wales.

Amy died after an accidental overdose of prescription drugs she had bought from a no-prescription pharmacy for insomnia, anxiety and stomach aches.

Her archdeacon father found the girl dead in her bed last October. Last week during an official inquest, coroner David Bowen cited the ease with which drugs could be purchased online without a prescription as a contributing factor in Amy’s death.

Read more about Amy’s story, and the larger problems of no-prescription pharmacies in the U.K., here.

Many rogue online pharmacies aren’t technically “no prescription” pharmacies — because they do have physicians on hand who write prescriptions for patients based on what are called “remote consultations.”

These online consultation pharmacies work with doctors who review a patient’s self-reported medical history — generally based on the completion of an online questionnaire — and then write a prescription in response to the patient’s request. U.S. states have different laws on what constitutes a valid doctor-patient consultation. However, as PharmacyChecker.com reports:

The American Medical Association and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have issued statements asserting that remote consultations are a substandard medical practice when there is no prior doctor-patient relationship, one established by an in-person physical exam.

No Prescription Needed does not permit online consultation pharmacies to be members of our network. While the standards of these pharmacies are higher, on the whole, than those of pharmacies that require no prescription at all, they still do not meet the safety standards that you deserve — and should demand — as a patient.

As has been reported by the Washington Post and others, online consultation pharmacies have a tendency to attract doctors with substance abuse problems, a history of malpractice, and a variety of financial woes.

The Post checked the background of prescribing physicians and found the following:

A Colorado doctor had a history of alcohol abuse. An Arkansas doctor was being treated for bipolar disorder and drug dependency. A Florida doctor had twice been cited for providing inadequate care to elderly patients, one of whom died. A Texas doctor was under investigation by the FBI for suspected Medicare fraud and later committed suicide. A California doctor was disciplined for operating under a fictitious name. A North Carolina doctor had held 22 jobs in five years.

Pharmacy site operators use Web sites like this one to recruit doctors in need of cash.

Don’t be fooled by a pharmacy that claims to distribute valid prescriptions over the Web. The only legitimate prescription is one your doctor writes for you after an in-person consultation.

One in four British doctors say they have treated patients for side effects produced by drugs purchased from rogue online pharmacies, such as no-prescription pharmacies, the U.K.’s Telegraph reported last week.

Physicians reported seeing patients who had experienced problems after buying a wide variety of drugs online, including medication for anxiety, insomnia and weight loss. Doctors also said they had seen patients who had side effects after buying fraudulent versions of Viagra or other sexual impotence medications.

More than 400 physicians responded to the survey by Britain’s GP Magazine.

Concluded Dr. Bill Beeby, prescribing lead for the British Medical Association’s GPs committee:

When it comes to buying drugs on the internet, it is a minefield. People just don’t know what they’d be getting.

Don’t step into the minefield of no-prescription pharmacies. It’s not worth the risk.

By signing up with No Prescription Needed, you can be sure the medications you order come from properly licensed Canadian pharmacies — so you can save while also staying safe.

Join now!

Would you like insect parts with that?

That’s apparently what some rogue online pharmacies should be asking their customers when they order prescription medications from their Web sites!

According to news reports:

A new study by the European Union found that 62 percent of medications bought online were not what they were said to be. The study used purchases of 30 medications from 100 Internet pharmacies.

“They have heavy metals in them. They have insect parts. They have pesticides in them,” C. Wayne Weart, a pharmacy professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, said, “And some of them have some of the active ingredients, and some don’t. And some have other drugs.”

Weart also said many Internet pharmacies claim to be in Canada, but actually are in places like Africa, India or Pakistan.

Weart is right. Many rogue pharmacies claim to be licensed Canadian pharmacies, but actually aren’t legitimate pharmacies at all. They are criminal operations based in Third World ratholes, willing to risk your safety (or even your life) to scam you for a few dollars.

These rogue pharmacies — most of which are no prescription pharmacies — try to fool you by claiming to be Canadian and by even putting the seals of organizations like the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) on their sites.

It’s critical that the online pharmacy you order from is actually licensed in Canada (or in a Tier 1 country like Australia, New Zealand or the U.K.) You can be certain that the pharmacies in the No Prescription Needed network are all properly licensed. We can even show you how to confirm this on official Canadian government Web sites.

So don’t take chances. Join No Prescription Needed to save — and be safe.

Some so-called no prescription pharmacies aren't actually pharmacies at all.

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.