Author Name: BoingBoing
       This story was originally published on Boingboing.net. [1]
       License: CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0.


COVID-19 vaccines are $500 on the dark web
Date: 2021-03-25 00:00:00

No surprise that there's apparently a brisk business in COVID-19 vaccines happening on dark web marketplaces. Apparently there are more than 1,000 listings right now covering all the vaccine flavors: Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sputnik, and Sinopharm. Send $500 in Bitcoin and you could get your dose tomorrow. Of course, you could also get nothing in return, a spoiled dose, or some other liquid entirely. From Wired:

Dark web vendors are probably doing better business selling falsified vaccine cards and negative test results. "Lately, we're seeing more vaccination certificates being offered" than vaccines, [said Ekram Ahmed, spokesperson for security firm Check Point who have been monitoring the trade]. "It's probably a two-to-one ratio."

With COVID-19 testing becoming more widespread, the price for negative test results is as low as $25. Vaccination cards are harder to come by and are selling for more, around $200[…]

Ahmed, the Check Point spokesperson, said that the sellers they contacted on dark web marketplaces were hoping to set up long-term relationships with their customers. The target market, he said, "are folks on the ground, people who are looking to spread and sell at the local level in bulk."

[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2021/03/25/covid-19-vaccines-are-500-on-the-dark-web.html

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.