This archive report was first published on 22 August 2021.
As the world grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic, scammers have taken advantage of the situation to commit a wave of outrageous and nefarious frauds. From fake health passes to criminal cremations, the scams have been reported in various parts of the world.
According to reports, a black market selling fake health passes has flourished in France since the government made proof of vaccination mandatory to enter cafes and other public places. The fake health passes are being sold on social media platforms like Snapchat, with some ads claiming that 'vaccination is optional thanks to our service.'
Meanwhile, in Russia, forgers are thriving in making fake vaccination certificates. In Uganda, at least 800 people were given fake vaccines in a scam involving 'unscrupulous' doctors and health workers who targeted people looking to pay for immunisation, including corporate employees who were asked to pay between $25-$120 for a fake shot.
Another scam was reported in India's commercial capital Mumbai, where 2,000 people were conned into thinking they were being vaccinated with shots of a saline solution. In a separate incident in the Indian city of Agra, five gang members donned full protective gear to cremate a man they had murdered, pretending he had died from Covid-19.
Police in Kolkata, southern India, arrested a man posing as a civil servant with a master's degree in genetics for allegedly running as many as eight spurious vaccination camps. At least 250 disabled and transgender people were injected at one site, and nearly 500 people in total are believed to have been given counterfeit jabs.
A rich Canadian couple was fined C$2,300 for travelling to a remote community to receive a vaccine intended for vulnerable and elderly Indigenous people. In the United States, a vaccine sceptic pharmacist was jailed for three years for tampering with hundreds of Moderna doses in a case that affected 57 people.
Four people were arrested in Indonesia for allegedly stealing vaccines earmarked for prisoners and selling them to the public. The suspects took more than 1,000 doses of China's Sinovac jab and offered them to buyers in the country's capital Jakarta and in Medan, North Sumatra, for around 250,000 rupiah ($17) each.
Health workers in Medan airport were also found to be recycling cotton swabs from Covid tests by washing and repackaging them. Police said the scheme could have affected thousands of passengers. In another incident, fraudsters selling fake doses of Pfizer's vaccine were nabbed in Poland and Mexico. The bogus vials were stored in beer coolers in a Mexico clinic, while in Poland, the confiscated doses contained a cosmetic substance thought to be anti-wrinkle cream.
