Steroids come in a wide variety of assorted, forms, shapes, sizes, textures, and colors. It's because of such variety that there are more steroid fakes and counterfeit drugs on the market than there are real anabolics. Fakes are plentiful because they are cheap to manufacture and easy to pass on to unsuspecting bodybuilders. To the untrained eye they can be almost identical to the real drug. If you or someone else is purchasing steroids from any source but a close friend or relative, you stand an excellent chance of being taken in by a con artist.



Two types of fakes

With the crackdown on anabolic steroids in the early 1990's, bodybuilders and other athletes have turned to the black-market to obtain the drugs for their cycles. There are basically two types of bogus (fake) steroids on the black market. The first type is not bogus in the usual sense, but rather semi-bogus. They are real steroids, but they have fake labels, and the dosages listed are usually incorrect. Licensed pharmaceutical companies do not manufacture these drugs. Steroid users are well aware of this, but insist that as long as a drug works, and is easily obtainable, they are not concerned.

The second group of steroid fakes (which is the more numerous type) are fake in every sense of the word. For example, users have reported buying bottles of clear liquids (such as distilled water) from other athletes. These bottles have no labels and are often not the type of bottle normally associated with the packaging of the drug. To make the steroid seem more legitimate, many fake steroid producers put cooking oils in the bottle. Injecting such a substance into your body is a short cut to developing any number of serious side effects.

Big Money ? Big Fakes ? Big Con!

As expected steroid fakers are in operation for one purpose; to separate you from your hard-earned money. If someone at the gym promises you any steroid in any quantity, for an ?unbelievable price?, chances are your're about to be had. The most effective way to spot counterfeits is to compare it to the original. The problem with this, however, is that most bodybuilders have never even seen the original! There is also a pattern between the popularity of the steroid and the number of fakes available. As expected such highly-sought out steroids as Deca-durabolin, Winstrol, and Dianabol, are faked the most. You have to be real careful if you buy these particular drugs.

Take a close look

The best way to identify steroid fakes, is to look closely at how the drug is packaged. Fakers try to maximize profits and minimize expenses so they rarely invest much time or money into making their product look authentic. For every bodybuilder who can spot the difference the faker knows that their are a hundred who will be duped into falling for the scam. Generally fake steroids have packaging that looks close to the original, but only superficially. One way to spot fakes is to look at the batch number and expiration dates. In legitimate pharmaceutical labs these numbers are usually printed on the labels after the labels are produced. If the label on the bottle you are looking at appears to have been printed all at once (numbers at the same time as the labels), then odds are you have a fake in your hand.

Other ways to spot fakes are:

* That the expiration date on the box matches the one on the product as well

* You should not be able to easily peal the label off of the ampule or the bottle.

* Most steroids made by legitimate companies use labels with rounded corners.

* The label is on straight and it doesn't overlap itself.

* With glass ampules, be sure that they are filled consistently, and of the same color.

Buying fakes

As of 1991 anabolic steroids are classified as controlled (illegal) substances. Attempting to obtain steroids from an unknown source on the Internet is risky and frankly, stupid. The person on the other end of your keyboard could be some law enforcement agent trying to set you up. At the very least they'll take your money and sell you a steroid fake. In the dangerous world of the steroid black-market it's buyer beware.