Marketers in 15 different “dark web” markets have dispersed hundreds of doses of what they allege Vaccines against covid-19, according to a new study by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky. In addition, Kaspersky researchers believe that a significant portion of these sales, up to 30%, could be real vaccines.
“There is evidence to suggest that some of these vendors provide actual doses,” said Dmitry Galov, a Kaspersky researcher who led the study of the illicit sale of vaccines online. “There are pictures of packaging and medical certificates. It looks like some of these people have internal access to medical institutions.”
Doses are available for up to $ 1,200 in savings, and Kaspersky researchers, who finished their study two weeks ago, say some vaccine street vendors have completed up to 500 transactions. Galov said prices have risen recently and that all sales are made in cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, making them difficult to track. But at least some of the sellers claimed they were located in the United States, according to the study. Other vendors said they had their headquarters in Europe.
Most vendors seemed unsophisticated and only offered a few doses each. Still, Galov said Kaspersky researchers found at least a handful of vendors who had made hundreds of transactions from what looked like real vaccines.
One of the vaccine ads found by Kaspersky researchers stated that it did not sell vaccines, but accepted donations in exchange for doses. “Your donations will help you save more lives, so please show your generosity,” read the offer, which instructed donors to send $ 81 in advance in bitcoin per requested dose, along with a name, address, and any known illness or medical condition to obtain a vaccine shipment. It was also claimed that supplies were limited, so “we can save more lives as quickly as possible.”
Courtesy of Kaspersky
Lev Kubiak, head of security at Pfizer, told CBS MoneyWatch that the pharmaceutical company has found some cases of scammers falsifying the company’s packaging, but there are no actual doses for sale.
“Pfizer proactively controls the Internet, including the dark network, and coordinates with law enforcement,” Kubiak said. “We haven’t seen any real doses sold in the illicit market.”
Kubiak said Pfizer has been tracking closely where his vaccines are going. “In the U.S., there is no charge for getting vaccinated and the only vaccine sold in the U.S. is to government agencies,” Kubiak said. “People need to be very careful. As far as we know, there are no dose leaks [outside of legitimate vaccination channels]. “
Spokesmen for vaccine manufacturers Moderna and AstraZenca did not return requests for comment.
The problem of whether some of the vaccines are sold in the dark net (and whether people are being ripped off) has been growing. Dark web is the general term used for encoded web pages, so Google or other search engines cannot find them and require the use of an “anonymizing” browser. Often web pages are also encrypted.
An academic study published in January found that vaccine offers began appearing in the dark net as early as March 2020. These offers were almost certainly false.
Last month, Check Point reported CBS Chicago the number of vaccine ads on the dark web had grown rapidly over the previous six weeks. But when investigators at this cybersecurity company tried to buy vaccines, the vendors disappeared before investigators could get doses.
“Our expectations were low and of course not met,” Mark Point Ostrowski, chief engineer of Check Point, told CBS Chicago.
Galov, of Kaspersky, said there are some specialized markets in the dark net that are just invitations and are intended to sell vaccines. But vaccines are also on sale in some of the largest dark network markets. Galov said Kaspersky decided not to disclose the names of these markets in his study because he did not want to encourage individuals to try to purchase vaccines on their own.
Also on sale: fake vaccine cards and test results
“It’s more complicated than going to Amazon,” Galov said. “But it’s not that hard for just a skilled engineer to understand.”
Galov said he has seen no evidence that regulators were trying to crack down on those in the dark network who claimed to sell vaccines.
Fake vaccination cards and forged documents claiming that a person has had a negative COVID-19 test are also sold. According to the study, dubious treatments for the disease are also being promoted.
In some cases, vendors claimed they had created special shipping containers to ship doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which must be kept at temperatures well below zero to remain effective.
“Marketers are trying to prove it [the doses] they are not false, “Galov said.” We think some of them are really real. “