January 21, 2015

Nitschke Target of Identity Theft

Flynn Murphy, The Medical Observer

EUTHANASIA advocate Dr Philip Nitschke has fallen victim to a Nembutal scam that he says makes him look like an “international criminal”.

The organisation Dr Nitschke founded, Exit International, this week issued a scam alert for a Facebook page called ‘Buy Nembutal Pentobarbital’, which uses the prominent advocate’s image, and claims to ship Nembutal in powder and liquid form worldwide.

Exit said the page represented “extraordinary identity theft” and “character assassination” and was intended to fool potential buyers of the pentobarbital.

Speaking to MO from Zurich, Dr Nitschke said the website and others like it were damaging to him professionally.

“It depicts me as basically an international criminal,” he said.

Dr Nitschke denied selling the drug, which is illegal in Australia and is commonly used in assisted suicide. He has previously said the only legal way to procure Nembutal is to travel overseas.

The Facebook page is linked to a website that now appears defunct — peacefulexit.com — and to a Google+ page in the name of a Harris Martin John, which offers what it claims is a recipe to make Nembutal out of urea. The Google+ page references Dr Nitschke but uses the face of former England test cricketer Sir Ian Botham.

Dr Johannes Klabbers, the Australia and New Zealand coordinator of Exit International, said scammers now used Dr Nitschke’s image on a regular basis — and with increasing sophistication.

“We’re regularly contacted by people saying they saw things ‘on your website’. They quote a website we’ve never heard of, and we go there and see they’ve been happily taking our images and pretending they’re somehow related to us,” Dr Klabbers said.

“It’s purely about money. They advertise they can send you a drug which will help you die peacefully. People send their money and never hear anything again.”

Dr Nitschke estimated he received two emails a day from people saying they had lost their money on the websites. “We have to keep going back and saying it’s a spam site that comes out of Eastern Europe to deliberately tap into the growing demand by elderly people trying to get access to this drug,” he said.

Peacefulexit.com is discussed on an internet forum devoted to ‘Antinatalism’ — defined as a philosophical opposition to birth. Forum users discuss the use of technology to access parts of the internet not easily found and debate the trustworthiness of sellers. One forum user said they had chatted with the owner of the peacefulexit.com website, who had “turned very unpleasant”.

Another claimed they had placed an order for $510 via Western union, but abandoned the transaction when hit with a suspicious $700 import fee.

One forum user asked if there were any “recent, reliable sources” on the successful purchase of Nembutal. Another responded that if there were, they would be unlikely to “come back here” to vouch for the success of the drug.

“The scammers’ modus operandi is increasingly sophisticated and effective. When one site closes, another will inevitably open. Engage with these criminals at your peril,” warned the Exit International newsletter.

Editor’s Note: The matter of the Medical Board’s suspension of Dr Nitschke’s registration is currently before the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.