Prescription forgery attempts climb across Alberta

Alberta pharmacies are seeing a sharp increase in attempted prescription forgeries this year.

Regulators and police warn these fraudulent prescriptions are getting more sophisticated and more difficult to detect.

The Alberta College of Pharmacy says 132 attempted prescription forgeries have been reported by pharmacies across the province this year as of June 26.

During all of 2025, 149 were reported.

The college received 188 reports in 2024.

The increase has been particularly noticeable in Edmonton, where the college says pharmacy teams reported more than 40 attempted forgeries during the first six months of the year.

The Calgary Police Service says the number of reported cases in its city has also already surpassed last year’s.

“Thirty-five incidents of attempted prescription fraud have been reported to the Calgary Police Service so far this year, which is a 25 per cent increase over the entirety of 2025,” police said in a statement.

“In 18 of those cases, prescription medications were successfully obtained.”

The college says every reported forgery helps identify trends, improve awareness and prevent future attempts from succeeding, but it is also urging pharmacies to notify police whenever a forged prescription is identified.

Pharmacy teams face growing workload

For Calgary pharmacist Wessam Sakr, forged prescriptions have become an increasingly common part of daily practice.

“We are noticing that the number of forged prescriptions is trending up now compared to previous years,” said Sakr, manager and co-owner of Edgemont Family Pharmacy.

He says fraudsters most often target narcotics like oxycodone and other controlled medications, but the tactics have evolved considerably.

Instead of appearing in person, Sakr says many suspects now rely on faxed prescriptions, making them harder to identify and often including multiple medications to closely resemble legitimate prescriptions.

“When the prescription is faxed over, it will look the same, whether it’s forged or whether it’s legitimate,” he said.

“They are even good now in tailoring the prescription to conditions.”

Rather than relying solely on obvious warning signs like unusually high doses, pharmacists are also highlighting broader patterns.

“The red flags now are usually for a patient who is new or for a patient who doesn’t live nearby,” Sakr said.

“We also notice when instructions for consuming the medication seem odd or if the prescription note is written very neatly, so it’s easier to read than a typical doctor’s note.

“When we have a combo of these factors, we kind of turn the red light on and try to investigate further.”

Every suspicious prescription also requires pharmacy staff to verify the prescriber, check patient records and, if necessary, report the incident to multiple organizations.

“It takes too much time for pharmacy teams all over Alberta.”

“It directs the pharmacy team from filling prescriptions and giving good advice to the patients to just investigating whether the prescription is legitimate or forged.

“When we find a forged prescription, it takes us time to report it.

“It’s a lot of work.”

Addiction specialist points to multiple factors

Dr. Monty Ghosh, an addictions specialist and assistant professor at the University of Calgary and University of Alberta, says there are generally two reasons people forge prescriptions.

“The first reason is independent use.”

“The secondary driver could be trafficking … We know that some of these drugs have high street value,” he said.

Ghosh says advances in technology may also be making forged prescriptions increasingly convincing.

“From my understanding, with the increase in prescription fraud, a lot of it is very sophisticated, so using AI or using different strategies.”

He is additionally concerned Alberta’s new driver’s licences.

“With the new health-care numbers being added to licences, there could be an increase in fraud secondary to that as well,” Ghosh said, noting it was previously much more difficult to obtain someone’s health-care number.

Sakr says pharmacists are already seeing cases where fraudsters use another person’s health information to forge prescriptions.

“Pharmacists have some online communities where they share the information, which has been great to give us a heads-up about what’s going on,” he said.

Police encourage reporting every attempt

In a statement to CTV News, the Calgary Police Service says it believes the actual number of attempts to forge prescriptions in the city is significantly higher than what’s being reported to them.

“(We) urge pharmacists to report every attempt, successful or not, to the police,” the statement said.

“Pharmacists can play a critical role in preventing fraud by confirming prescriptions are authentic and identifying suspicious behaviours.”

The Alberta College of Pharmacy has also highlighted a gap between reports made to the regulator and those made to police.

While the college received more than 40 reports from Edmonton pharmacies between January and June, Edmonton police received only 15 reports during the same period.

The college says delays or failures to report suspected forgeries reduce opportunities for investigators to identify suspects, recognize emerging patterns and prevent additional offences.

“By maintaining strong reporting practices and collaborating with law enforcement, pharmacy professionals help to maintain the integrity of the drug system,” the college said in a statement.

“The ongoing efforts of pharmacy teams to identify, prevent and report prescription forgeries protects patients and supports community safety.”