eBay online trading platform will pay $59 million to settle the charges From the Department of Justice, he assisted in the sale of pill presses used to manufacture both legal and counterfeit prescription drugs. The platform has sold thousands of these presses, along with other products for creating pills such as molds, stamps, dies and encapsulation machines. For the uninitiated, encapsulating machines are used to fill capsules with medicine.
Pill press machines are used by legitimate pharmaceutical companies to manufacture drugs, but they are also a useful tool for making counterfeit pills. Criminals use these machines to make counterfeit drugs that look like actual prescription pills, usually for sale on the street or through the dark web. Combined with molds, stamps and dies, these fake pills will look like the real McCoy, right down to the logo and lettering on each side. In addition, these presses can make thousands of pills per hour.
The issue here is that companies that facilitate the sale of pill presses and related equipment are required to send records to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to verify the identities of buyers and ensure that the machines are tracked if they are used illegally. eBay appears to have shirked its duties here, which is a violation of the Controlled Substances Act.
“Through its website, eBay has made it easy for individuals across the country to obtain the types of dangerous machinery often used to make counterfeit pills,” said US Attorney Nicholas Kerest. he said ABC News.
eBay’s failure to comply with “basic reporting and record-keeping requirements” allowed people to “set up pill factories in their homes and do so without detection,” added US Attorney Henry Leventis.
In addition to the hefty payment, eBay has agreed to abide by the rules going forward, so information on every pill press machine sold, along with accessories, will be sent to the DEA for reading. In addition, according to the DOJ, many people who bought cars on eBay have been charged with illegal counterfeiting.
This is a big deal because these counterfeit pills are often filled with all kinds of junk, including fentanyl. The synthetic opioid is responsible for the deadliest overdose crisis in US history 74,000 people die from fentanyl overdoses only in 2022. This drug accounts for more than two-thirds of overdose deaths in the United States. You won’t fall into a coma by touching it, let the police say what they say but you still have to stay away, away from things.
As for eBay, this isn’t the first time the company has had to pay the DOJ. He recently had to pay $3 million solve a really weird cybertalking case means the transportation of live animals. The DOJ is also suing eBay for allowing it sale of aftermarket “defeat devices”, the car bypasses emissions controls.
