Amazon Counterfeit Prescription Pill Dies Tied To Three Deaths

Banned products on Amazon's "Prohibited Items List" escape removal.

June 23, 2020 - Los Angeles, CA – Six individuals received prison terms ranging from 7 to 30 years for their role in distributing counterfeit prescription Percocet pills laced with fentanyl. The scheme resulted in at least three deaths and caused a massive number of overdoses.

Where can the equipment, binding powder, and counterfeit pill dies be purchased? It's Amazon.

“I purchased two pill presses on there. I also purchased the pill-press dies, which are the molds to shape the pills and imprint them with whatever number they need be,” said Eric Falkowski in a phone interview, and serving a 22-year prison sentence for the counterfeit fentanyl-laced pill sales.

Falkowski's counterfeit Percocet pills, with the correct “A333" markings, were mixed with fentanyl, alprazolam (“Xanax”), acetaminophen (sold as Tylenol), and an inert binding powder. Falkowski obtained the fentanyl through the internet and had it sent directly to his home from China. Falkowski's counterfeit Percocet pills were implicated in a rash of overdoses in Tennessee that Rutherford County EMS says led to the deaths of three people.

“Someone could wipe out a whole town with these poisonous pills," said Derrick Helton, a former sheriff’s deputy for Rutherford County, Tenn., where the mass overdose took place. One of the fatalities was his sister, Tiffanie Scott, a 33-year-old mother of a young daughter.

Amazon bans pill presses and drug paraphernalia used to make prescription drugs, yet Amazon’s shortcomings in policing its marketplace have been exhaustively documented by numerous media exposés. Counterfeit, fraudulent, and replica merchandise continues to flood Amazon's websites.

• The Counterfeit Report, an award-winning consumer advocate and counterfeit watchdog, found Amazon sellers offering counterfeit prescription pill dies to make fake Oxycodone, Alprazolam, XANAX, Viagra, and other prescription drugs, along with tablet binding powder, filler, and pill-press machines. The Counterfeit Report purchased the Oxycodone M30 dies (shown below), and also XANAX dies from an Amazon seller, reporting the counterfeit and dangerous listings to Amazon. The listings were removed, but Amazon allowed the seller to remain and relist the pill dies weeks later. The counterfeit dies were again purchased by The Counterfeit Report and reported to Amazon. The seller as-of-date remains on Amazon.
• The Markup's Investigative reporters, Jon Keegan and Annie Gilbertson, reviewed nearly 2,000 Amazon items for sale in the United States against an ever-expanding list of restricted items. They found nearly 100 listings of banned items for sale, including multiple listings from different sellers for the same type of product. Five of the banned products were sold directly by Amazon itself, not a third-party.
• A Wall Street Journal investigation last year found more than 4,000 problematic items for sale on Amazon.com, including products that were “declared unsafe by federal agencies, are deceptively labeled, or are banned by federal regulators.”
• The Atlantic reported that customer searches for digital scales resulted in Amazon.com’s purchase recommendations offering them baggies, rolling papers, and grinders --" a field-tested kit for starting an illicit business.”

The obvious question; for what possible legitimate reason are prescription pill dies offered for sale on Amazon?

Shown: Amazon listing featuring counterfeit Oxycodone M30 pill manufacturing dies (M30 prescription pill images added);

Amazon.com is a haven for U.S. and cross-border scam artists to freely unload counterfeit, fake, replica, dangerous, and potentially deadly merchandise.

Amazon spokesperson, Patrick Graham, told The Markup “If products that are against our policies are found on our site, we immediately remove the listing, take action on the bad actor, and further improve our systems.”

However, that statement is patently false. Amazon allows inarguable counterfeits to remain on its website, a practice confirmed by Amazon General Counsel Anasara Purcell, sellers to relist, and often ignores complaints of counterfeit, replica, and fraudulent products. Amazon also utilizes the legal argument that it’s not liable for illicit merchandise peddled by third-party sellers on their website, claiming immunity under the 1996 Communications Decency Act.

The demarcation point of an e-commerce website and a criminal enterprise is becoming increasingly clouded.