In a development that should surprise absolutely no one, a black market is flourishing for fake vaccination certificates and tests results, and probably fake vaccines. Cyber-security firm Check Point has released an
analysis showing a booming business in all three, with "Dark Web" advertisements up 300% in the past three months.
According to their report:
- Fake COVID-19 negative tests can be had from various sellers for about $25
- Fake vaccination certificates can be bought for $250
- Various vaccines can be purchased for $500-$1000 per dose.
Fake Records
The tests and certificates are so easy to fake I'm surprised anyone would spend money to buy them. My test results come to me as an email. It would be child's play to change the name on mine to someone else's. There is an "id number" and "order number" that could reveal the name had been tampered with. But the average consumer of test results (say, an airline) would have no way to check up and validate the report.
It's largely the same situation with my vaccination record. It's a printed form from Walgreens. It is has a date and a lot number for the vaccine, filled out by hand, and a signature from the person administering it, but no other form of control or tracking number. It would be easy to scan this, erase the name and birthdate, and fill in someone else's.
Some of the people caught with fake certificates have been health care workers. And they aren't getting caught because of excellent validation built in to the certificates, but because they're saying they did it on social media.
The Daily Beast has a
post with several such stories. In one, a pharmacist stole blank certificates for herself and her husband and bragged about it on TikTok. In another, an employee of a medical billing department in Veteran's affairs offers (who, shockingly, also makes and sells anti-Biden and pro-Trump shirts from her Facebook page) offered vaccine record templates on TikTok.
When called on it, she defended herself by saying anyone could get them on Google Images (true). This is why authorities have been telling people
not to post their cards on social media.
Here is another great example of poor planning by the previous administration. Anyone with a modicum of common sense could have anticipated this. The government should have set up a secure system for documenting vaccinations, if there was any chance that they'd be used as some kind of passport. That has always been
a bad idea, but it's even more so if the "passports" are easy to forge.
Fake (?) Vaccine
The Check Point report also notes vaccines for sale. They are all the less storage-sensitive brands, AstraZeneca, Sputnik, SINOPHARM and Johnson & Johnson. They are selling for $500 and $1000 per dose.
There are vaccines on offer for even lower prices. A Telegram account called @glupharmacy is selling supposed vials of vaccine for much lower prices. They list Pfizer- BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine $120 per vial, Moderna Covid 19 Vaccine $128 per vial, and Astrazeneca Covid 19 Vaccine $110 per vial.
That's cheap for vaccine but expensive for saline solution, which is most likely what these vials contain (at best). Two of the vaccines in that list, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, require cryogenic storage and I doubt some dude on Telegram is going to accomplish that kind of shipping.
For that matter, how do we know what's in the more expensive Dark Web products? A Check Point spokesperson is quoted as saying they appear to be legitimate based on packaging, but c'mon. Anyone dumb enough to buy something from an anonymous seller on the internet then shoot it into their arm deserves what they get.
Header image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
