Metro Forgers Using Sophisticated Equipment To Pull Off Prescription Fraud

A metro woman arrested for allegedly forging a prescription, points to a bigger problem state agents are seeing.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics is working several cases involving mass-produced pill prescriptions. OBN said forgers have such sophisticated scanners and printers that even experts have a hard time spotting forged prescriptions.

Malanei Matias was arrested this week at Windsor Park Pharmacy in Oklahoma City. She is accused of trying to pass a forged script for Oxycodone.

The Oklahoma City Police report stated the pharmacist immediately knew it was fake, because he had seen at least five fake scripts in the last ten days.

“They're good, these people are good at writing prescriptions,” said pharmacist Dani Lynch of Thrifty Pharmacy.

Lynch said she sees several fake prescriptions a month.

“As pharmacists, if you've been in this business a day or two, you see it and you look for it every time you take a new prescription,” Lynch told News 9.

OBN has busted several forgery rings that were mass-producing fake or altered IDs and prescriptions.

“People can purchase duplicators, copiers, scanners on the internet that would rival anything you might find at a professional copy facility or driver’s license facility,” said OBN’s Mark Woodward.

Some people are so desperate to feed their prescription pill habit, they will spend outrageous money on a forged script.

“There's a lot of money to be made by these people who are making fake prescriptions because they can turn around and make quick cash, potentially $50 to $100 for every fake script,” Woodward explained.  “Prescription drugs are more valuable than gold,” he added.

The statewide prescription monitoring program helps cut down on prescription fraud by tracking dispensed narcotics, but it cannot catch everyone.

“It's a terrible problem and those people are one step ahead of all of us,” Lynch said.

Sometimes a forged script may not be noticeable, but the pharmacists are tipped off by how suspicious the person is trying to pass it off at the pharmacy.

Some doctors are now "e-prescribing" or electronically sending a script straight to a pharmacy because it is easier and trips up scammers.