New Chrome, Safari, Edge Warning—Stop Buying From These Websites

Last year ended with warnings about malicious websites parting holiday shoppers with their hard earned cash, and 2025 has started the same. This time it’s more specific than the unprecedented fraud we saw from Black Friday through Cyber Monday and into the end of year sales. But it’s even more dangerous.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration now warns “there are many unsafe online pharmacies that claim to sell prescription drugs at deeply discounted prices, often without requiring a prescription. These internet-based pharmacies often sell unapproved, counterfeit or otherwise unsafe medicines.” Chrome, Safari and Edge account for 93% of browsers in the U.S. All have safeguards, but “these pharmacies often sell medicines that can be dangerous,” and none of the browsers will stop you visiting their websites and buying their dangerous drugs.

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This is clearly much worse than the fraudulent e-commerce sites that market goods that never arrive or use phishing tactics to steal login credentials and financial account information. Messing with fake drugs is on a whole different level.

“Many unsafe online pharmacies use fake ‘storefronts’,” the FDA says, which “mimic licensed pharmacies to make you think their medicines come from countries with high safety standards.” That’s not the case. At best the drugs might be grey market, for example products meant for one market sold into another. But “these drugs could be fake, expired or otherwise unsafe for you and your family.” And the deployment of AI now enables threat actors to make their storefronts near perfect.

The FDA offers a checklist you can use before you go online shopping for drugs or other medical supplies. “Beware of online pharmacies,” it says, “that:

• Do not require a doctor’s prescription.
• Are not licensed in the U.S. and by your state board of pharmacy.
• Do not have a licensed pharmacist on staff to answer your questions.
• Send medicine that looks different than what you receive at your usual pharmacy, or arrives in packaging that is broken, damaged, in a foreign language, has no expiration date, or is expired.
• Offer deep discounts or prices that seem too good to be true.”

The agency also warns that online pharmacies might sell products that never ship or might sell or otherwise abuse the data they collect from you. This is the same risk you run with all e-commerce websites, and you should always take care. My advice — as ever — is to stick to the brands you know and trust, to be exceptionally careful before opting for deals and discounts that beat what’s available elsewhere. This is almost always a scam in one way or another.

And when it comes to drugs, the risks are much greater than in almost all other flavors of fraudulent website. You might find yourself with medication that “has too much or too little of the active ingredient you need to treat your disease or condition, that does not contain the right active ingredient, or that contains the wrong ingredients or other harmful substances.”

Clearly the drugs you buy are all about the active ingredient that treats you and the delivery mechanisms that ensures it is absorbed properly. “If a medicine has unknown active ingredients, it could fail to have the intended effect, could have an unexpected interaction with other medicines you are taking, could cause dangerous side effects, or could cause other serious health problems, such as serious allergic reactions.” The FDA warns that even storing a drug in the wrong kind of warehouse — especially at the wrong temperatures — could make it ineffective. Drug supply chains are very specific.

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There’s a website you can use to check a pharmacy’s legitimacy before you buy. “If your online pharmacy is not listed,” the FDA says, “don’t use that pharmacy.” The website can be complex to use and might not be the quick check you require when shopping online. But if you follow the basic rules and stick to websites you know to be legitimate, you’ll be okay.

Safe browsing will ramp up in 2025, with the use of AI to help steer you away from the wrong shopping websites. You may even see store reviews built into browsers, rather than needing you to click an third=party review site. In the meantime don’t take any risks. It’s simply not worth it. The FDA has kicked off 2025 with this warning for a reason.