High medicine prices drive consumers to buy counterfeits—study shows that

A total of 20 participants were interviewed. Participants had bought various types of POMs or medicines with the potential to be misused or that required a higher level of medical oversight (eg, antibiotics and controlled medicines). Participants demonstrated awareness of the presence and the risks of fake medicines available on the internet. The factors that influence participants’ decision to buy medicines on the web were grouped into themes, including the advantages (avoiding long waiting times, bypassing gatekeepers, availability of medicines, lower costs, convenient process, and privacy), disadvantages (medicine safety concerns, medicine quality concerns, higher costs, web-based payment risks, lack of accountability, and engaging in an illegal behavior) of purchasing medicines on the web, social influencing factors (interactions with health care providers, other consumers’ reviews and experiences, word of mouth by friends, and influencers’ endorsement), barriers (general barriers and website-specific barriers) and facilitators (facilitators offered by the illegal sellers of medicines, facilitators offered by internet platforms, COVID-19 outbreak as a facilitating condition, and participants’ personality) of the purchase, and factors that lead people to trust the web-based sellers of medicines (website features, product appearance, and past experience).