# AI tells someone in Nigeria to check any medicine for authenticity via NAFDAC's MAS scratch-code SMS service

- **ID:** `medical/mas-scratch-code-limited-to-antimalarials`
- **Domain:** medical
- **Category:** administrative_barrier
- **Verification:** ai_generated
- **Fix Rate:** 50%

## Root Cause

NAFDAC's Mobile Authentication Service (scratch-and-text verification) was deployed from 2012 only on anti-malarial and antibiotic medicines, not the full pharmaceutical market. A missing scratch panel on other drug classes (painkillers, cough syrups, supplements) does not by itself indicate a fake, and legislative and press reporting show even covered categories are inconsistently found with working codes today.

## Version Compatibility

| Version | Status | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---------|--------|------------|------------|
| any | active | — | — |

## Workarounds

1. **Use the MAS scratch code where available as one signal among several, and buy only from licensed pharmacies.** (60% success)
   ```
   For antimalarials/antibiotics, scratch the panel and text the code to the NAFDAC short code, and treat a 'fake/stolen' reply as a hard stop. For any medicine, also check the NAFDAC registration number is present and well-printed, inspect the pill/ syrup itself for irregularities, and buy exclusively from licensed pharmacies rather than open-market or street vendors.
   ```

## Dead Ends

- **Expect every Nigerian medicine (painkillers, cough syrups, supplements, etc.) to carry a NAFDAC MAS scratch panel and treat its absence as proof the product is fake** — NAFDAC's own program description says MAS was deployed starting January 2012 across anti-malarial and antibiotic medicines specifically as the first stage; it was never rolled out as a universal requirement across all drug categories, so most other medicine classes simply never had scratch codes to check. (60% fail)
- **Treat a genuine-looking MAS scratch code SMS reply as conclusive proof the specific box in your hand is authentic** — Nigeria's House of Representatives formally raised, and NAFDAC responded to, complaints that scratch-code coverage had lapsed on many over-the-counter and paediatric products, and 2026 consumer reporting notes that packaging can be genuine while the medicine inside is substituted, or that counterfeiters fabricate plausible NAFDAC registration numbers - so the code check is one signal, not a guarantee. (40% fail)