Online remdesivir scam costs Chennai resident Rs 14,000

CHENNAI: A city resident was conned out of ₹14,000 by online scamsters who promised to supply him six vials of the anti-viral remdesivir.
Akash, a resident of Rathinasabapathy Street in Tondiarpet, had launched a desperate search online for the drug after a close relative fell ill. He came across a firm offering the drug and ordered six vials. They said it would cost Rs28,000 and he paid half the money to an account they specified.
Akash told the police that he was taken in as the firm asked for details of the doctor’s prescription and a photocopy of the patient’s aadhar card. After paying half the amount, he told the firm to send details of the courier by which the medicine was being sent before he paid the full sum.
Akash told the police that the firm told him he could collect the vials from a pharmacy in Mylapore. But when he sought further clarifications there was no response to his emails. That’s when he went to the police.
He made a complaint to the deputy commissioner of police of Washermenpet. The cybercrime wing at the DCP office has registered a case.
The shortage of remdesivir and other drugs has spawned rackets across the state with many pharmacists and even doctors hoarding and selling the medicines in the black market.
After selling remdesivir through counters at government hospitals in Chennai, the government now supplies the drug directly to private hospitals. But complaints of shortages come in from all parts of the state.