Bad Actors Impersonate DEA Agents, Threaten and Scam People
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued an official warning to medical practitioners and pharmacies, notifying them about cyber criminals and scammers who are running an extortion scheme that stretches beyond the borders of the USA.
The scammers use a couple of common social engineering tricks - impersonation and scare tactics. They would call people who previously purchased prescription drugs online and pretend to be DEA officials, introducing themselves using the real names of actual DEA staff. The scammer would then tell the victim the purchases they made online are illegal and that the victim can pay a sum of money to have their profile and name "cleared" so to speak, threatening them with criminal charges and time in prison if they do not pay up.
The payments that the scammers request are usually made to bank accounts in different countries. Other threats the criminals came up with include searching the victim's property or having them arrested if they refuse to play along. The DEA even mention one case where impersonators went so far as to personally visit a victim at their home.
Another facet of the same scheme includes the scam artists calling doctors or pharmacy workers on the phone and telling them they are under investigation, once again asking for money to suspend the fake investigation procedure.
Don't Fall for Scams and Empty Threats
One thing to remember is that, in the general case, buying prescription drugs and controlled medication online is illegal. Another thing to keep in mind is that no DEA agent or official would ever directly call regular members of the population. The added oddity of fake DEA agents asking for strange payments under strange circumstances should be another huge red flag.
We should also note that buying any sort of prescription drugs over the Internet could lead to getting scammed and feeding your payment information in a phishing form, which could, in turn, lead to your card information being stolen.
The formal advice provided by the DEA is that any victims who receive similar scam calls should refuse any demands and immediately report the phone call to the official form provided by the US Department of Justice.
