What to check if you buy medicines online in France

People in France are being warned to stay alert when buying medicine from online pharmacies, including checking certain details and staying alert to scams.

Online pharmacies are becoming increasingly popular. They aim to make it easier for people to order and receive medication, as patients can order it online and have it sent directly to their home address. With the increased shortage of some key medicines in France, people may become even more tempted.

However, some sites claim that they can send prescription medication, despite French law only allowing them to dispense non-prescription medication. These pharmacies may advertise on social media, or appear very legitimate when found via a search engine.

A growing issue

France is one of the countries “most targeted” by these fake pharmacy sites, said Michal Salàt, director of online threat company Avast, to AFP. He added that since January in France, “151,000 PharmaFraud attacks have been blocked” by Avast.

Similarly, French government site Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr states that there have recently been “a notable number of registrations of names of suspect domains including the term ‘pharmacy’”.

The World Health Organization has also said that around half of medicines sold online are fake.

“We regularly receive reports of websites selling products illegally. We file complaints, but it is very difficult to keep track of them; they close down and immediately reappear elsewhere,” said Carine Wolf-Thal, president of the Ordre national des pharmaciens (ONP) to Le Figaro.

Some of the websites are simple scams, and steal your banking details without sending anything. Some do send legitimate medicines, but do so without a legal prescription. Others send non-regulated or counterfeit medication that can range from useless to actively dangerous.

Taking medication that is not prescribed to you by a legitimate pharmacy can lead to problems including taking the wrong dosage, unwanted medical interactions, a lack of effectiveness, developing resistance to treatment, a worsening of your condition etc.

Tips to spot a non-legitimate pharmacy site

Health authority l’Agence régionale de santé (ARS) is advising people to stay alert to signs that the site may not be legitimate or is acting legally.

Rules include:

• Only pharmacists can set up these websites, and they must be ‘attached’ to a physical pharmacy. The website must make this clear, and state the pharmacist and pharmacy address Almost 1,000 of such legitimate sites exist, the ONP states

• Clear information on the medication sold, including its leaflet details and counter-indications, must be available.

Other signs that a pharmacy may not be legitimate include:

• If it appears to be based abroad, and does not state a French pharmacy address

• Prices are very low, or much lower than usual

• If they emphasise sales of certain products, including “comfort” items such as weight loss drugs, or those related to sexual performance

• Spelling or grammar errors. These are one of the biggest signs that a site may be suspect, as it may have been poorly translated.

Legitimate sites

The Ordre national des pharmaciens has a list of authorised online pharmacy websites. If a site does not appear on the list, it is unlikely to be legitimate.

The Ordre has also called on the government to “stay tough” on online pharmacies, and has called their “usefulness” into question when people in France can usually “get a medicine quickly after asking pharmacists for advice” via the country’s existing pharmacy network.

The pharmacist body is seeking to disrupt the online scams, however, and is set to open its own legitimate pharmacy website in October. 

It will be called ‘Ma Pharmacie en France’, and will be a ‘portal’ that enables patients to access existing pharmacy distribution networks, rather than a ‘marketplace’ in itself, the Ordre said.