UK's largest online pharmacy selling customer data to lottery scammers
The largest online pharmacy in the UK was fined two hundred thousand dollars for selling the personal data of patients to attackers who are looking for sick and vulnerable victims. Pharmacy2U was selling the names and addresses of its customers to fraudsters working under the guise of the Australian lottery.
Pharmacy Pharmacy2U has sold data to over twenty one thousand of its customers. Buyers include scammers with the Australian lottery, who are looking for elderly men with chronic heart diseases, a food supplement company whose advertisements are considered unreliable, and a charitable organization. The Information Commission believes that as a result of the sale of data, clients may be financially affected by the actions of fraudsters.
The list of client data for sale includes more than one hundred thousand people classified into categories by diseases, including asthma, Parkinson's disease, and erectile dysfunction. Separately, people older than seventy were noted. The data of each thousand people cost one hundred and thirty pounds.
Information Commissioner David Smith noted that the company operating in this area considered it normal to sell patient data. As soon as patient data is sold for the first time, it can be transferred to other organizations many times - so people wonder why so many companies contact them.
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The managing director of Pharmacy2U, an online pharmacy, apologized on behalf of the company, and thanked the regulator for not considering these actions as deliberate. As soon as the case was opened, the pharmacy stopped selling data. “We assume all responsibility and want to assure our customers that we have not sold any medical information, email addresses or telephone numbers. Only names and postal addresses were given for one-time use, ”according to pharmacy representatives.
Pharmacy Pharmacy2U has sold data to over twenty one thousand of its customers. Buyers include scammers with the Australian lottery, who are looking for elderly men with chronic heart diseases, a food supplement company whose advertisements are considered unreliable, and a charitable organization. The Information Commission believes that as a result of the sale of data, clients may be financially affected by the actions of fraudsters.
The list of client data for sale includes more than one hundred thousand people classified into categories by diseases, including asthma, Parkinson's disease, and erectile dysfunction. Separately, people older than seventy were noted. The data of each thousand people cost one hundred and thirty pounds.
Information Commissioner David Smith noted that the company operating in this area considered it normal to sell patient data. As soon as patient data is sold for the first time, it can be transferred to other organizations many times - so people wonder why so many companies contact them.
')
The managing director of Pharmacy2U, an online pharmacy, apologized on behalf of the company, and thanked the regulator for not considering these actions as deliberate. As soon as the case was opened, the pharmacy stopped selling data. “We assume all responsibility and want to assure our customers that we have not sold any medical information, email addresses or telephone numbers. Only names and postal addresses were given for one-time use, ”according to pharmacy representatives.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/356886/
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