CYBERSQUATTERS ARE INCREASINGLY trying to lure people to their sites to buy little blue pills that are more likely to be Smarties than anti-impotence drugs.

According to MarkMonitor, a firm which specialises in online brand protection, cybersquatting of leading pharmaceutical brands has reached an all-time high and phishers are targeting an increasingly diverse number of organisations for the first time.

This means that not only are you likely to not get the drugs you want (assuming you actually receive anything at all), but it's quite likely these guys will nick your personal information as well.

Of the 2,986 online pharmacies studied, only two carried the industry credential as Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS). The figures show that the online sales of fake, expired or grey-market drugs continue to grow as traffic to questionable sites triples and marketing tactics are becoming increasingly aggressive.

The top third of the online pharmacies in the study each generate an average of 99,000 visitors daily, more than triple the daily visitors noted in 2007. The report estimates that this traffic converts to $12 billion in annual sales for the six drug brands studied, triple the amount from 2007.

"As consumers increasingly turn to the internet to buy medications, brandholders must ensure these customers are not faced with the potentially life-threatening risk of buying fake or sub-standard medications," warned Irfan Salim, president and chief executive officer of MarkMonitor.

Looks like you might be better off just getting your drugs from your mate down the pub, or a good old fashioned chemist. µ