College students across the country are preparing to return to school soon. According to a study cited in Business Insider, next to the cost of education, stress is the second biggest problem students face while attending college. Unfortunately, due to the stresses associated with college, some students may turn to dangerous drugs. (Our Partnership for Drug Free Kids resource helps provide education and support for students in this situation.)

Drug dealers are selling millions of counterfeit drugs to college students. And, these unscrupulous criminals are different from your typical drug dealers, in that they never set foot on campus. Instead hackers are targeting higher education websites to push their counterfeit pills.

In a recent investigation, a New York news channel found dozens of sites stolen from universities and colleges by rogue online pharmacies. Damon McCoy, a computer scientist and assistant professor at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, has been tracking counterfeit drugs from the spam folder to the search engine. He explains why hackers are targeting higher education websites to push their counterfeit pills. According to McCoy, search engines rank university sites higher, so university websites are a particularly valuable target to the spammers. He also mentions how “tech troubles might be the least of the problems caused by counterfeit pharmaceuticals.”

The misuse of dangerous fake drugs can lead to serious health issues, such as an increase in the risk for dependence, dangerously high body temperatures, irregular heartbeat, seizures, heart attack, or even death. Students may not consciously think about the potential for adverse side effects. To increase awareness of the issue, some universities have begun to provide information about prescription drug abuse online.

In addition to the resources provided by colleges, we urge college students and their families to review our trusted resources and educational videos. We also recommend that all consumers check online pharmacy sites before they buy using our LegitScript Pharmacy Verification Tool, and educate themselves about the dangers of illegitimate online pharmaceuticals and pharmacies.

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The Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP) and our 11 member companies have the shared goal of helping address the growing problem of consumer access to illegitimate pharmaceutical products on the Internet. Continue to read this blog for updates on CSIP’s education, enforcement and information-sharing efforts.