US-BASED cybersecurity firm, Kasada, is warning that bots are targeting pharmacy customers' online accounts to sell access to legitimate prescriptions for medications including Oxycodone.
The company has reported that the number of stolen accounts being offered for sale has increased by 500% in the last 60 days.
Kasada said the pilfered accounts were being flogged on the "regular internet" as well as the "dark web", with cybercriminals offering their customers the option to pay using cash transfers or cryptocurrencies.
With bots attacking accounts linked to some of the US's largest pharmacy groups, as well as independent stores and online retailers, people seeking to access prescription medicines can pick the pharmacy and medication of their choice.
So confident in the quality of their ill-gotten data, criminals are providing guarantees that if the account does not work, they will provide a new account to their clients at the same pharmacy free of charge.
"It's easy to see how the illegal sale of stolen pharmacy accounts can be a profitable venture," the researchers concluded.
"Not to mention very dangerous - by enabling medications to be put into the hands of people who don't have a prescription."
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