The federal government has been working overtime to secure the rights of U.S. residents by hunting down fake vaccination cards.
Customs and Border Protection officials announced last week that agents seized thousands of fake vaccination cards printed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention logo that were passing through Memphis, Tennessee. There were more than 121 packages filled with more than 3,000 fake vaccination cards, CBP said.
Apparently, government officials only realized the vaccine cards were fake because the shipping label was not addressed to the CDC or another medical organization. Once they took a closer look, they spotted misspellings and incorrect Spanish translations. But at first glance, the outline of the fake cards was identical to the legitimate ones.
“If you do not wish to receive a vaccine, that is your decision,” Michael Neipert, Memphis’s CBP area port director, said in a statement. “But don’t order a counterfeit, waste my [officers’] time, break the law, and misrepresent yourself.”
Several cities across the country, including New York City and San Francisco, are now requiring residents to show businesses proof of vaccination if they want to shop or be served meals indoors. As a result, online searches for fake vaccine cards, such as the ones found in Memphis, have skyrocketed. According to cybersecurity expert Maya Levine, they’re easy to obtain and create.
“Especially in the U.S., where we only have a physical paper copy, it’s not that hard to forge,” she said.
Because the U.S. hasn’t rolled out a standardized vaccine card, it’s almost impossible to spot the fakes. Take, for example, two Florida residents who were arrested in Hawaii last week after state investigators discovered they had used fake vaccine cards to circumvent Hawaii’s quarantine restrictions. The only reason state officials realized the vaccine cards were fake was that a local community member made the discovery first and reported the Floridians to the authorities. Would anyone have known otherwise? Probably not.
The consequences for getting caught, however, aren’t cheap. Those found making, buying, or using fake vaccine cards can be charged for violating federal laws and sentenced to up to five years in prison or fined several thousand dollars. You might as well just shop online or order carryout. Or, better yet, just go get the vaccine.
