As the fake Covid-19 vaccination card market booms, some sellers are asking for hundreds of dollars for a card. The US Customs and Border Protection says it has intercepted thousands of packages of the fake cards.
Real versions of the cards, created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help people keep track of their shots, are free for whoever is vaccinated, which is also free. But since the U.S. doesn’t have a deliberate national system to validate who’s been vaccinated and onlyhave rolled out digital verification, the cards have inadvertently become one of the best ways to show evidence that someone’s been vaccinated.
Researchers at the cybersecurity company Check Point have identified around 10,000 Telegram users claiming to sell fake vaccination cards, Brian Linder, the company’s emerging threat expert, said.orders last Thursday that drastically increased the number of Americans who would have to get vaccinated to stay employed, the cost of black market fake cards roughly doubled from $100 to $200, Linder said.
“What people don’t realize of course is, God only knows where their identity and their financial information are ending up,” Linder said.Three self-proclaimed vaccination card sellers, contacted by NBC News on Telegram, said that they demanded bitcoin payment for cards. Each asked for more personal information than would be necessary to mail a blank card, like date of birth and telephone number, making a verity of claims.
While it’s unclear how many sellers on Telegram actually send the fake cards, Customs and Border Protection has intercepted “thousands” of them in recent months, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Unvaccinated individuals who use fraudulent vaccine cards put themselves, their loved ones, and their fellow Americans at risk of contracting COVID-19,” the spokesperson said. “Additionally, the unauthorized use of an official government agency’s seal is a federal crime, and may be punishable under Title 18 United States Code.”
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