The Vaccination cards are being sold online, and as the Covid-19 delta variant spreads, the pandemic does not seem to be slowing down. According to recent research, the black market of fraudulent Covid-19 vaccination cards is booming. Fake certificates were so far being sold on the dark web for 250 dollars on average. But since people need to be a little technically advanced to access these services on the darknet, it did not reach the larger audience.
But there have been developments in the market. Fake cards are now sold through apps like Telegram, sourced largely from Russia and WhatsApp ranging from $100 to $120. The number of online groups advertising such services has grown manifold since early 2021.
The market is blooming just months after international officials warned of vaccine-related scams. A global alert was issued to law enforcement agencies in 194 member countries, warning them to prepare for crime networks targeting covid-19 vaccines physically and online. The FBI, too, put its alert out specifically about fake vaccination cards in late March.
But scams are not just limited to fake vaccination certificates; there is also an increase in the number of people attempting to travel with counterfeit negative COVID test results.
The proliferating number of certificates is seemingly directly related to the number of governments that have started levying restrictions regarding COVID-19 vaccination to access goods and services. The online advertisements target people who do not want to take the vaccine.
According to The New York Times, 45 state attorneys general recently joined together to call on Twitter, Shopify, and eBay to curb the sale of fake and stolen vaccine cards. The pressure led these platforms to blacklist keywords.
Colleges and universities in the US are also concerned about the ease of cheating the system in regards to the vaccine mandates. Since there is demand for these services, their supply is growing. They target specific user bases; they mention college students in their message and offer them vaccination certificates if they do not want to get vaccinated.
The problem is universal now and not just related to the country.
The scams have been reported out of China, Pakistan, and Russia, and websites usually support fake vaccination proof for 20-30 countries, largely the more popular ones. The US is a fertile ground for vaccines since the whole thing has been politicized here, and its resistance is comparatively more here.
The US and various other countries continue to use paper vaccination cards that can be copied easily. The possibility of the black market growing is more now. Scammers have also started to offer access to government or private databases to prove vaccination.
They are bringing hacking to the fore, and with more mandates around the vaccinations being levied, it will give these scammers more momentum. With people being more pressurized to take vaccines, the market goes on to flourish more.