Italian police have claimed that the number of fake coronavirus vaccine passports being sold online has surged and that some doctors may even be involved in the sale of fake certifications.
Lucia Muscari, director of Polizia Postale in Genoa, stated that the amount of people buying and selling fake vaccine passports has greatly increased, saying “this market has literally exploded”.
“Those who want to buy Covid passports are people who do not have the slightest intention to get vaccinated but still want access to gyms and restaurants and other public places, as well as workplaces, without Covid testing,” Muscari told Swedish broadcaster SVT.
Last Friday in Milan, Italian financial police raided and arrested several people and seized fake coronavirus vaccine passports they say were sold on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, with sellers often only accepting cryptocurrencies as payment.
“We see that there is a great supply and a great demand, not only here in Italy, but also in Europe. The 17-year-old we arrested cooperated with Russian hackers,” police officer Fabio Ferrari said and added: “What people don’t realise is that they hand over their I.D. and patient documents to rogue individuals and that this information is then resold.”
According to SVT, the arrested teen had made over £16,590/$22,010 selling fake certificates online. Italian police also suspect some medical professionals may be engaged in creating fake vaccine certificates, as well.
Fake coronavirus vaccine passports have been an issue for months in various countries that have implemented them.
As early as May, German authorities were advising members of the public not to post their vaccination cards on social media, arguing that the information on the cards could be used by fraudsters to create fake vaccine passports.
Even digital passports, which use QR codes, have been faked or copied, including the personal QR code of French president Emmanuel Macron, which was leaked on social media networks in September.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex had his vaccine passport leaked online as well after a photographer took a picture that showed the code on Castex’s smartphone.
In October, the European Commission was forced to admit that fake health passes were not only a problem but that internet users had gained access to the cryptographic keys used to create the QR codes, leading to some creating working passes with names like Adolf Hitler and Spongebob Squarepants.