Counterfeit medicines flood Europe: Internet medicines tempt with price. In reality, you may be risking your own health

I think it’s great when older people try to engage with the internet. For example, I can communicate with my grandfather every day and see him on webcam. He is 77 years old, but he tries to cooperate with technology to the fullest. It’s just that people at this age don’t often see the pitfalls of the online environment. So I often hear from him that he saw some significant discounts somewhere, or that someone was offering him guaranteed products at exceptional prices. As a result, this is a scam that the average younger Internet user can recognize at a glance. Recently, he has also asked me to order medication several times, which nevertheless looks very suspicious.

I am glad that at least my grandfather has not yet learned how to order things from the Internet. If I had to count the number of times he’s asked me to buy something that screamed at first glance that it was a scam, I wouldn’t be able to. Whether it was a sofa from a Chinese website for 500 crowns or a mobile phone on a second-hand market that no one had ever heard of. Recently, scammers have been appearing on the internet trying to sell counterfeit and low-quality medicines. And I’m sure my grandfather isn’t the only one who almost got caught.

Counterfeit drugs

There have been many cases of counterfeit medicines in Europe in recent months. “Of particular concern is the emergence in Europe of counterfeit products containing semaglutide, which are used as weight-loss aids,” said the police, summing up a six-month operation that has tracked down several offenders. It was conducted from April to November 2025.

Throughout the operation, the police reportedly managed to seize:

• 139,116 illegal packages of drugs
• 298,594 illegal packages of doping pills
• 48 531 packages of food supplements

Unfortunately, criminal networks are benefiting from the growing demand. Many people will buy cheaper medicines even though they know that they are likely to be counterfeit or illegally sourced. The abuse of prescription and over-the-counter medicines is becoming a serious complication across Europe. Criminals are taking advantage of this as much as they can.

Be careful what you buy

Counterfeit medicines are of course a threat to the medical industry, but they also threaten people’s health. Some users buy cheaper medicines or food supplements knowing the risk. But there are also people, like my grandfather, who fall for online scammers. So if you buy any medicines over the internet, always take them only from official websites and pharmacies that you know.

Moreover, as soon as you buy medicines that you don’t know and dietary supplements that you have never taken before, always prefer to look for them in brick-and-mortar stores. If you come across special promotions on the internet where someone will offer you miracle remedies at very low prices, don’t trust them.

“Buying medicines from unverified online pharmacies can be dangerous because the products may be counterfeit, contaminated or contain the wrong ingredients,” says Ilisa Bernstein from the Food and Drug Administration.