A black market for fake vaccination records is reaching epidemic proportions online.
The fraudsters were carried by three-by-four-inch cards on retail sites, including eBay, Etsy and Shopify, as well as on social networking sites Facebook and TikTok, the New York Times reported this week.
Meanwhile, The Post has found dozens of DIY guides online for printing fake vaccination cards at home.
Counterfeiting has increased in recent weeks, following news that an official vaccination card could soon become a central requirement for traveling on planes and attending events.
And sellers and buyers violate federal law by falsifying vaccine documents and fraudulently reproducing the logo of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which is displayed in the upper right corner of each card.
Warning that counterfeiters risk prosecution, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recommends: “If you have not received the vaccine, do not buy fake vaccine cards, do not make your own vaccine cards and do not fill in the blank vaccination registration cards with false information.”
“We recommend that you do not post photos with your vaccine card on social networking sites,” the site warns.
According to Saoud Khalifah, the founder of Fakespot, which provides data analysis to help detect counterfeit items online, scammers have also sold fraudulent vaccine stamps.
“People post” Do you want Moderna or do you want the Pfizer stamp? “He told The Post.
“The card dictates where you can go and what you can do,” he said.
“Some people may not want the vaccine, but they want to go somewhere. So they will buy this fake vaccine card with a fake stamp and fool their way through the system. It’s a shame.”
Meanwhile, 46 attorneys general called for Twitter, eBay and Shopify to take “immediate” action to monitor their platforms and promptly “eliminate” stations that sell fake cards.
In a statement to The Post, Etsy, on the world market, said that “they removed the posts that advertised the articles”
EBay also told The Post that the company “takes significant steps to quickly block or remove items” that make false health claims or can be used to “falsely represent a person who received the vaccine.”
As of December, eBay has removed or blocked approximately 50 million records that violated its COVID-19 policies, from toilet paper and wipes to items that made false medical claims.