9/16/2021- 2:23 p.m.
Thousands of online sellers are claiming to offer near-perfect copies of the cards at prices that have risen sharply in recent weeks, with some now selling a single card for hundreds of dollars. While it’s unclear how many cards successfully make it to people who try to buy them, the federal government is intercepting reams of them.
The FBI warned in March that buying, creating or selling fake vaccination cards are illegal, and the agency has made at least one high-profile arrest of a Chicago pharmacist who was allegedly selling them on eBay. All major American social media and commerce sites, including Etsy, Facebook, Amazon and Twitter, have banned the sale of the cards.
But users offering cards for sale are rampant on the messaging app Telegram, headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, and which rarely moderates user content. While Telegram is still sparsely used in the U.S., it’s become more popular in the past year, especially with the far right. In January, its founder, Pavel Durov, announced the app had reached half a billion active users worldwide.
“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 (such as that of the Department of Health and Human Services or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is a federal crime, and may be punishable under Title 18 United States Code.”
Almost all the seized packages came from Shenzhen, China, the spokesperson 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. about why they needed such information to “register” a buyer’s information.
One said the information would be sent to a doctor, while another said it would go to the CDC. None of the three were willing to explain what such registration actually meant.
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.
