Dear Pharmacist,
We have recently been notified of a number of attempts to fraudulently obtain large quantities of codeine linctus and Phenergan elixir using the wholesaler account details of community pharmacies initially in Edmonton and Enfield.
Those pharmacies affected so far received a call purporting to be from one of the major pharmaceutical wholesalers, querying an order and asking them to confirm their account number. They have then used that account number to place an order with the wholesaler which they have then either attempted to intercept before it arrives at the pharmacy, or they have called the pharmacy to say
that an order had been placed in error and that the wholesaler would be sending a courier to pick it up. The wholesalers have been made aware of this criminal activity, and taken extra precautions to help prevent it from happening again. People engaging in criminal activity like this rely on a lack of awareness and basic checking, so you should take the following steps to help minimise the risk of falling victim to this activity yourselves.
Action:
Brief your teams so that:
- they are aware of this criminal activity
- that they should not be disclosing any of your pharmacy’s wholesaler account details to anyone over the phone to anyone without satisfying themselves that the caller is who they say they are
- and that they do not hand over quantities of codeine linctus or Phenergan elixir to someone claiming to be a wholesaler’s courier
- Report any such criminal activity to the police
Best regards,
Alliance Healthcare
