When sniggering at fake Viagra gets kind of serious

It's always worth a snide chuckle when you hear about fake Viagra being intercepted by Customs. Counterfeit medicines however are serious problem in third world countries where health workers may be desperate to get hold of drugs for such things as malaria. Fake stuff that doesn't work or is sub-standard and ineffective serves only to build resistance to the drug. It appears China and India are the main culprits when it comes to the manufacture and export of counterfeit drugs. The illicit trade is estimated to be a global business worth €56 billion a year. Read The Observer's recent article here on the problem of counterfeit medicine.
Check previous posts on fake drugs here.

Nigerian 419 scam fools ex-customs man into cashing fake cheques

Ever wonder what happens if someone answers one of the those emails from west Africa promising  a share of cash in return for helping to access some mysteriously frozen bank account? Retired customs man Eoin Breslin from Galway pleaded guilty this week to six counts of forgery and theft after being sucked into a classic 419 scam. He found out the hard way. Once contact was made, fake cheques were sent to Ireland to be lodged and then a portion of the cash wired to another country. Needless to say once the cash was gone it would become apparent the cheques were fake. In this case the travellers' cheques were of good enough standard to fool bank officials. Hard to believe the scam is still working Read Ann Healy's court report here.

Thousands pay cash into dodgy internet ads get-rich-quick scheme, Banners Broker

When is a pyramid scheme not a pyramid scheme? When the bloke looking for investors says it isn't a pyramid scheme then you can be sure it is. If there's is even a question of a financial scheme that it's anything but legitimate then walk away. The latest wheeze roping in desperate investors in the Munster region is Banners Broker. They claim to earn money through people purchasing ad space on website throughout the world - I would have though Google had that pretty much sewn up. My Sunday World colleague Alan Sherry did a good piece on the dodgy investment scheme. Click here to read.