14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers from cyber intelligence firm Cyveillance report that rogue online pharmacy owners are adapting their websites to look better on mobile phones in an attempt to reach this increasingly active market.
Running rogue online pharmacies and selling drugs without prescription remains one of the most lucrative cyber criminal activities.
It is so profitable that an entire chain of services was built to support it. These range from advertising to payment and distribution.
Rogue pharma websites are mainly promoted through spam, and at a rate so high that the "pharmaceutical" category dominated the junk mail landscape last year.
The Cyveillance researchers note that providing mobile versions for online pharmacies is becoming a trend. They exemplify with one pharma site whose font and images used to appear so small on smartphone screens that it would have been almost impossible for users to interact with it.
However, when visiting it now, users are taken to a clean and well spaced template designed particularly for such mobile devices.
The site's owners even went to the trouble of registering a .mobi domain. The checkout page was also designed to be usable on a small screen.
People continue to buy from such sites because the drugs sold have a high street value and don't require a prescription to obtain. However, people should be aware that they can also be counterfeit and can pose very serious health risks.
At the end of January, following international cooperation, New Zealand authorities arrested a Chinese counterfeit drugs supplier.
"It is our hope that consumers will remember examples like this site and recall that as technology advances, enterprising cyber criminals will likely have already considered ways to take advantage of the new landscape in ways that can seriously jeopardize your health and financial well being," the Cyveillance experts conclude.