The online trade in counterfeit pharmaceuticals: New criminal opportunities, trends and challenges

There is widespread agreement that the Internet is a primary market for counterfeit pharmaceuticals, but this issue has been under-investigated by criminologists. In order to effectively control this dangerous trade, considerably more knowledge about it must be assembled. This study contributes to this domain by looking at how the Internet is used to facilitate the trade in counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Based on interviews and investigative cases analysed through a crime script, this study pinpoints the criminal opportunities made available by the specificities of the Internet, identifies what specific phases of the trafficking activity they facilitate, investigates how such opportunities are exploited, provides updated insights into how actors involved in the online market in counterfeit pharmaceuticals behave, and offers a reflection on the main challenges that have to be met to respond to this criminal phenomenon.