Criminals want to withdraw money from US immunization fight COVID-19 by selling government forgeries issued “vaccination record cards » which shows that people have been vaccinated.
According to Saoud Khalifah, CEO of Fakespot, which uses artificial intelligence to detect online retail scams, hundreds of fraudsters sell blank or counterfeit versions of the cards through e-commerce sites, including eBay, Etsy and Shopify. . And with names like blankcovidcard.com, such sellers are hardly discreet.
“In January, we started taking note of Shopify stores selling fake vaccination cards, and it was really interesting because it introduced a new dynamic to society where people can waive immunity and post it with a fake card,” he said. Khalifah told CBS MoneyWatch. “It’s a new concept we’ve not seen before.”
Fakespot has identified hundreds of different sellers that have popped up since the beginning of the year, and the firm estimates they have traded thousands of fake records over the past three months. Online retail sites have banned bad actors, who then, according to Khalifah, often re-appear and sell fake cards under different names.
Thanks to Fakespot
The low-tech vaccine records are easy to repeat. The 4-to-3-inch, double-sided paper cards bears the logo of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in black and white, along with the cardholder’s name and date of birth. They also take note of the drug manufacturer, lot number, date and place of the vaccine administered. The information is annotated in the pen or on a printed sticker.
One seller, whose Shopify store has now been shut down, sold a pack of four blank vaccination cards for $ 80.
Prosecutors call for action
Shopify, a platform that enables merchants to create e-commerce sites, said it had acted quickly against users of its technology trying to sell fraudulently. vaccine cards. Hawking’s fake cards violate the company’s policy, the company told CBS MoneyWatch, noting that it has been monitoring its platform for such schemes since February.
The National Association of Attorneys General last week called on eBay, Shopify and Twitter to stop people from selling or advertising fake CDC vaccine tickets on their platforms. To date, Shopify has closed three stores that it said sold fake or blank vaccination cards or fraudulent vaccines.
“When we identify a potentially banned product, our team quickly reviews the store and the product and takes the necessary steps,” Vivek Narayanadas, vice president of Shopify, wrote in a letter to the National Association of Attorneys General.
“All stores we have identified for violating our policies have acted quickly,” Narayanadas said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
Etsy also confirmed that the sale of rogue vaccine tickets violates the rules of the website and that it removes any reports advertising the fake records. EBay said it quickly blocks or removes items on its market that make false health claims, including vaccine ID cards or any similar items that could be used to falsely represent a person received the vaccine. ‘
A Twitter spokesperson said it had increased efforts to block misinformation and removed tweets and accounts that violated the policy of misleading information. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Khalifah of Fakespot suspects that some buyers of the fake cards are ‘anti-vaxxers’ who do not intend to be vaccinated but who want access to a card.
Airlines and the travel industry, for example, are considering providing proof of travel vaccination. Some countries, including Mexico, require visitors to submit negative COVID-19 tests for admission. According to experts, the vaccination could be the following.
People who are not yet eligible for the vaccine, or who cannot book an appointment, can also falsify a blank card to make it appear as if they have received one dose of the vaccine and have to pay for a moment. to cut lines.
“You can buy small booklets with fake stamps so that you can bypass the whole system that the government has created,” Khalifah said.
Tools designed to digitize paper records are aimed at combating this type of fraud by keeping the records of individuals in secure, online safes.
“This will make the forgery of physical documents difficult to carry out, but there will still be hackers who can hijack other people’s identities, so it will not be bulletproof,” Khalifah said.
Red flags
VaxYes, a tool that converts paper cards into digital vaccination certificates, puts individuals through several rounds of security checks to ensure their records are authentic. The company also uses artificial intelligence and trained medical professionals to examine the cards for irregularities that indicate they may be counterfeit.
“We’ve got thousands of cards and everyone knows it now. That’s why we ask if there are any discrepancies compared to other cards,” VaxYes CEO Mohamad Gaber told CBS MoneyWatch.
Gaber said less than 2% of the cards VaxYes checked were “doubtful” or completely inaccurate. Cards that do not indicate the number of a vaccine or with the handwritten lot numbers instead of printed stickers carry red flags.
“A lot of people have generated these maps because they are very easy to recreate. We’ve seen a number of versions of maps that people have unauthorizedly downloaded and filled out,” he said.
Against the law
The sale of fake vaccination cards violates federal laws that prohibit the unauthorized use of an official government agency’s seal, including those used by the CDC, the FBI said in a statement last month.
The FBI also warned people against engaging in related scams that could be a crime. “If you have not received the vaccine, do not buy fake vaccine tickets, do not make your own vaccine tickets and do not fill in blank vaccination cards with false information,” the Bureau said. “By misrepresenting yourself as vaccinated as you enter schools, transportation, workplaces, gyms, or places of worship, you are putting yourself and others at risk of contracting COVID-19. ‘
Fraudulent use of an official U.S. government seal is an offense that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. People who forge a vaccination ticket to travel, go to work or attend events can also be prosecuted for deliberately endangering other people to get COVID-19.
‘If I’ve never been vaccinated and I’m at high risk of transmitting COVID-19, and I’m in a public place, and it turns out I’m patient, someone died – should I be charged with some criminal negligent or reckless manslaughter, “said Randy Zelin, a criminal defender at Wilk Auslander. “I would have closed my eyes to the high probability that I could have killed someone, and I went ahead and did it anyway.”