If you’re buying drugs online, you might want to take note of a new report from the World Health Organization.

CNN reports the WHO estimates as many as 50 percent of online pharmacies are selling counterfeit medications. The most popular fake drug? Viagra.

Everything from erectile dysfunction drugs, to heart pills, to cholesterol medicines, and even antibiotics are all available at low cost through online pharmacies, often run in other countries.

But chances are, if an Internet pharmacy deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is, say experts, warning that the snake oil salesman and is alive and well in today’s pharmaceutical industry.

A 2014 annual report by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy in the United States concluded that a staggering 96 percent of online pharmacies did not comply with NABP patient safety and pharmacy practice standards, or state and federal laws.

John Clark, former deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and now chief security officer and vice president of global security for Pfizer pharmaceuticals, told CNN 78 counterfeit Pfizer medications have been found in 109 countries.

Among the fakes seized by federal authorities:

• Heart medications that contain rat poison.
• Cholesterol-lowering statins filled with brick dust.
• Antibiotics loaded with toxic chemicals, paint, and inkjet material.

The WHO estimates the counterfeit drug trade is a $431 billion a year global industry and growing.
Clark said Pfizer is assisting law enforcement by providing training to authorities in 149 countries.

In the United States, the 2013 Drug Supply Chain and Security Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama, is also helping authorities crack down on counterfeiters.

Yet the global counterfeit drug trade is a booming business, experts say, with estimates of as many as 1 million people dying every year from ingesting counterfeit drugs.