The World Health Organization concluded in 2003 that ten percent of all medications sold worldwide were counterfeited, which amounted into a $32 Billion loss. Even more troublesome, the Center for Medicines in the Public Interest recently estimated that global counterfeit pharmaceutical sales are increasing at about 13 percent annually and could become a $75 Billion industry by 2010. Include the increased ease of marketing and selling products online to the perceived anonymity of the process and the problem becomes very clear. Illegal online pharmacies expose susceptible consumers to the following:

• health and safety concerns
• risk of associated spam, malware and identify theft
• elimination of the required doctor-patient relationship  

In order to address the serious and growing problem of illicit online pharmaceutical sales, NCFTA established the Pharmaceutical Fraud Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to provide a neutral forum wherein private industry and law enforcement can exchange information regarding emerging and ongoing threats to the pharmaceutical industry, while utilizing the NCFTA generated target/trend assessments to support risk mitigation pursuits.