Experts warn of Internet flu vaccine scam

Although the United States is experiencing a shortage of flu vaccines this fall, don't be so eager for one that you're duped into purchasing it online.

"You can end up with pretty nasty stuff," says Francois Bourdeau, director of marketing for Vircom Inc., an e-mail security company.

According to Bourdeau, spammers and con artists are taking advantage of the shortage by offering the vaccines through e-mails and on Web sites.

Bourdeau says the spammers are using a variety of methods, such as pinging and hijacking servers, to profile and target people most susceptible to the scams.

He says Vircom calculates approximately one in 20,000 people targeted by spammers falls for the schemes. Since the flu scams may number in the "high millions," according to Bourdeau, a significant number of people may have already responded to the scams.

"Sixty percent will be downright frauds, where the only goal was to get people's credit card information," Bourdeau says.

The other 40 percent, according to Bourdeau, lead to Web sites that may actually offer something--possibly the real flu vaccine, possibly another substance.

Having a credit card number stolen may actually be the safer option for those swindled.

"Flu vaccine is an injection, and you need to know how to inject it. It's not that simple," says Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Bill Pierce.

Pierce says that there is no guarantee the vaccines being mailed are kept refrigerated and in the condition necessary to be safe for use.

"You really need to get your medicines, whatever they are, from a known source. If you don't know the source, that is a risk for you," Pierce adds.

As an added insult, the costs for the vaccines, fake or not, are extremely high online.

"It was up to $600 for a single shot," Bourdeau says. A flu shot from a doctor, in contrast, costs about $60, according to Bourdeau.

Heather Shippsley, an assistant director of advertising practices at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, says the FTC believes the main problem is the amount of spam being generated, not actual purchases by consumers.

"We have been monitoring for the flu (vaccine scams), doing Google searches and Web site searches . . . and we're not seeing much," Shippsley says. "We definitely are watching and we will bring in law enforcement."

Bourdeau says that most of the sites offering vaccines are "hit-and-run" operations.

"They set up a Web site for about 48 (or) 96 hours," Bourdeau says. The culprits then shut down the sites and set up others at different addresses.

According to Bourdeau, the brief life span of these Web sites explains why they can't be found by simple Google searches.

"All their operations are very timely," Bourdeau says.

(Tuohey writes for the Medill News Service.)