Courtesy of Ora DeMorrow

I was getting to know a business associate last week, discussing at a high level what we do. I get incredible reactions when I mention that I’m an expert on identity theft. The stories come out, and the experiences I hear are more astounding every time. This one, I must tell.

Roy’s Uncle Ben lives in Denver but was spending some time in Nevada this month. Ben is middle aged and, like many of us in the United States, purchases some of his regular medications online. He’s been doing this for over five years with no problems.

While in Nevada, Ben got a call on his cell phone: “Special Agent Karen Thomas” claimed she was from the Food and Drug Administration and that a warrant was out for Ben’s arrest. The dialogue went something like this (paraphrasing):
    
Karen: We know you get meds online, and we have your address. We’ve seized drugs that are going to you from this online pharmacy. The management there have been arrested and are going to jail. So are you.

Karen: This crime is punishable by five to seven years in prison, or up to $12,000 in fines. . . .

Karen went on and on about the five to seven years and piped in every so often about the $12,000 fine. Ben was incredibly intimidated. She kept pressing about jail time and said, “Hold on” often, as if speaking to the police in the background.

Karen: Maybe I can do something special for you. I can get your fine reduced to $6,000.

Ben asks for, and Karen provides, her phone number. She then puts her supervisor on the phone. The man has a heavy accent. The supervisor proceeds to rip into Ben and accuses him of being a drug dealer. He talks to others in the background and instructs them to move forward with the arrest.

Ben demands the name and phone number of the supervisor, but he refuses to provide it. Ben and he continue to argue back and forth, and the fine is reduced to $2,000.

In the meantime, Ben’s wife contacts Roy to ask for help. Roy is an attorney. Roy looks online and discovers that this is a known scam. He promptly tells Ben to hang up the phone.

Ben immediately contacts the online pharmacy and is told that the database was recently hacked. The personal information of all customers has been stolen. Why the pharmacy did not alert all customers is unclear.

Naturally, these scammers continued to call back that afternoon. Roy helped end the ordeal once and for all, though. He had Ben tell them that he had called the FDA, and that the FDA authorities had ordered Karen and her supervisor to “check in” immediately.

The final validation that this was a scam came right away—“CLICK!” The phone went dead, and Ben never heard from “Special Agent Karen Thomas” or her supervisor again.

Ben was lucky. He had an attorney in the family to turn to for help. Not everyone is that fortunate.

Bottom line: The FDA is aware of this scam and others like it. Immediately report such calls to the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations at (800) 521-5783.