The hair loss treatment business is a big business—a multi-billion-dollar industry, to be exact. Because hair loss is an ugly fate anyone wants to get over with fast and easy, crooks take advantage of this. So from the numerous products for hair loss offered virtually anywhere, it is hard to sort out the authentic from the counterfeit.

Fake prescription medicines are unfortunately part of the everyday menu when people are ill. That is no news. The criminals are still out there in hiding. Worse, the Internet has made their jobs easier. Fake drugs have been sold like hotcakes throughout the web—including hair loss medications. Now, even physicians themselves cannot exactly identify counterfeit prescription drugs from the legit ones.

Minoxidil, the first FDA-approved medication for hair loss, is the active agent present in products for hair loss such as Rogaine and Avacor. It was first marketed as an anti-hypertension drug. As it is known, hair loss happens because hair follicles don’t get enough nutrients needed to regrow hair. Because it increases the blood supply, it became a popular treatment for hair loss.

Minoxidil comes as an oral and/or a topical solution. Two percent of Minoxidil is a licensed treatment for female pattern baldness while a 5% solution is for male pattern baldness. While Minoxidil is a safe treatment, it appeared to produce side-effects such as scalp and eye irritation or such other allergic reactions. Cardiovascular effects such as palpitations and chest pains are also possible, including death.