Dodgy scam site uses Kiwi pro-euthanasia protest imagery to sell bogus suicide drugs – Stuff.co.nz

MATT STEWART

Last updated15:28, July 13 2017

STUFF

The Painless Path website uses a Stuff picture of supporters protesting outside the assisted suicide case of Wellington euthanasia advocate Susan Austen. The site purports to sell the suicide drug Nembutol.

Pro-euthanasia lobby group Exit International is warning its members off a scam website, based in the Ukraine, which is fleecingthe elderly by selling the popular and costly suicide drug Nembutal, which never arrives.

Those falling for the scam are mostly elderly people, many in poor health and with little internet savvy.

They are being gouged about $1100 - the price of a 25gm dose of the drug - and are too frightened to go to the authorities to complain about buying an illegal substance.

GLENN CAMPBELL

Exit International founder Philip Nitschke says scam sites claiming to sell Nembutal are on the rise as the elderly increasingly look for end of life choices.

Exit founder Philip Nitschke said about three of its members were in contact every week about the ripoff as the market for the lethal Class C controlled drug, used in assisted suicide, grows worldwide.

READ MORE: * Jury trial over assisted suicide case to proceed in Wellington for Susan Austen * Elderly importers of lethal drug used in assisted suicide are getting pinged by Customs * Wellington woman Annemarie Treadwell's death trigger for Police euthanasia furore * We know where you've been, police tell 76-year-old who attended euthanasia meeting

The Painless Path website uses aStuffpicture of supporters protesting outside the assisted suicide trial of Wellington euthanasia advocate Susan Austen.

STUFF

Susan Austen leaving Wellington District Court after an appearance in May.

Austen, 66, a Lower Hutt teacher, was charged in October2016with having twice imported pentobarbitone, more commonly known by its trade name Nembutal. In high doses, it causes death by respiratory arrest.

Nitschke was gobsmacked the site offered cheaper rates for teenagers and said the use of a news photo featuring euthanasia lobbyists in genuine protest was perfect for a scam site as it appeared credible and featured people from an older demographic.

Exit's handbook lists a handful of legitimate sites in Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and China but Nitschke says there are nearly 100 scam sites, a number that is growing in parallel with the rising global demand for the drug as an end-of-life option.

ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF

The original Dominion Post photo of supporters of Susan Austen outside the Wellington District Court used by the bogus Ukrainian website Painless Path.

"Luckilythey don't sell anything, just take your money. We'll be alerting members ... the steady growth in internet scams over the past decade is an indication of the growing global market in this drug ," he said.

The handbook had been updated to list bogus sites.

Nitschke said sites like Painless Path relied on those who fell for the scam being too frightened or sick to report it to the authorities.

"This is a vulnerable group who can hardly go to authorities saying I lost money buying this illegal drug. They'd be admitting to breaking the law."

The maximum penalty for importing a Class C drug is eight years' imprisonment.

-Stuff

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Dodgy scam site uses Kiwi pro-euthanasia protest imagery to sell bogus suicide drugs - Stuff.co.nz