Three Baltimore prosecutors have been accused by federal prosecutors of setting up a fake website to sell Covid-19 vaccines for $ 30 per dose, prosecutors say.
The men, Olakitan Oluwalade (22), and Odunayo Baba Oluwalade (25), who are cousins, and Kelly Lamont Williams (22) are each facing charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Maryland District Said Thursday. .
Prosecutors said the men created a website similar to that of Moderna, the biotechnology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which gave federal approval in December to distribute its Covid-19 vaccine.
The real site is modernatx.com, and the site created by the men and seized by the authorities has been modernatx.shop ever since. Prosecutors said the source code of the fake domain showed that its maker used a tool to copy the real website of Moderna.
“The logo, marks, colors and texts on the fake domain were visually similar to the actual home page of the company,” officials said in a statement. Prosecutors said the fake website had an add-on: ‘YOU CAN BUY A PREDICTED TIME FROM A COVID-19 EKSTEEN’, with a link to ‘Contact Us’.
The men were caught after a secret agent contacted the number on the fake website on January 11 and, according to the statement, set up a transaction for 200 doses of vaccine for $ 6,000. Officials said the three men never had doses.
The agent was instructed to give half of the money to Mr. Williams’ account with the Navy Federal Credit Union, and by January 15, agents had seized the fake domain and Mr. Williams’ home was searched.
According to court documents, investigating officers found texts between Mr. Williams and the cousins discussing the scheme.
An agent called Mr. Williams used to send a message to Odunayo Baba Oluwalade and sent some of the money from the scholarship to the cousins, prosecutors said. Both of their homes were also quickly searched.
It was unclear how much money the men had cheated. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday that she could not provide more details about the charges than the statement said.
A representative of Moderna could not be reached Friday.
An attorney, Richard Bardos, said he was assigned in the case of Odunayo Baba Oluwalade but declined to comment further, citing a law in Maryland that prohibits attorneys from talking about ongoing cases.
Jonathan Van Hoven, an attorney for Williams, declined to comment. The Office of the Federal Public Protector for the District of Maryland said Olakitan Oluwalade is not yet a lawyer.
“While the public is seeking vaccinations to protect themselves and their families from Covid-19, fraudsters are waiting to exploit their desperation,” said James R. Mancuso, a special agent at Homeland Security Investigations. “We want to remind the public to be extremely careful online, especially when it comes to Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and protective equipment.”