FTC stands for Federal Trade Commission, the agency behind the consumer guidance below.
FDA is short for Food and Drug Administration, the federal agency responsible for reviewing medicines.
- Ask for the exact product and supplying pharmacy.
- Ask how the clinician assesses your concern.
- Keep the offer and payment terms in writing.
Assumption to check
Is skipping the prescription just convenient?
What the facts say
As of September 26, 2026, federal law is breached when prescription medicine is dispensed without a valid prescription.
Treat an offer to skip that step as a reason to pause.
Look closer at the product claims
As of September 26, 2026, FDA warns about weight-loss drugs offered for people to take that carry ‘not for human consumption’ or ‘for research purposes’ labels. Some sellers also give instructions for how much to take.
Those label words claim the product is for experiments, not for people to use. Being told how to take it does not establish whether it is safe or legal.
As of September 26, 2026, calling a custom-made drug FDA-approved makes a false claim.
- Is the product being called custom-made and approved at the same time?
- Does the name match the actual product information?
- Can the service explain where the medicine comes from?
A low price does not answer the other questions
FDA advice checked September 17, 2026 warns about online-pharmacy prices so low they are hard to believe.
Price by itself cannot show a problem; real cash offers and generic drugs may also have lower prices.
There is no single dollar cutoff here. Read the price alongside the prescription, licence and pharmacy answers.
Look at how payment is demanded
A wire transfer sends money from one account to another through a bank or money-transfer service. Cryptocurrency is digital money, such as Bitcoin.
FTC advice checked September 26, 2026 says to watch for a seller who accepts only certain payment methods. These include gift cards, payment apps, cryptocurrency and bank or wire transfers. Such a demand suggests a scam.
The warning is about a seller insisting on these methods as the only way to pay.
Save the offer and any messages if you need to raise a complaint.
As of October 3, 2026, people can send Arizona’s Attorney General complaints about deceptive or unfair business practices.
Arizona also has separate complaint resources for MDs, DOs and nursing practice.
Open the source notes
Ask the receiving agency what it can review and which records it needs.
- FDA: questions about weight-loss drug copies
- FDA: claims made by online care services
- FDA: checking an online pharmacy
- FTC: payment requests that signal scams
- Arizona: medical doctor complaint resources
- Arizona: complaints concerning DO doctors
- Arizona: nursing complaint resources
- Arizona Attorney General: consumer complaints