Warning: Purported Covid vaccines sold on Darknet

AGLOBAL cybersecurity company has warned of Covid-19 vaccines being sold on the dark web.

Kaspersky researchers examined 15 different marketplaces on the Darknet and found advertisements for three major Covid vaccines: Pfizer/biontech, Astrazeneca and Moderna.

Scammers and sellers on the dark market have been eager to make a profit off the process as there were sellers advertising unverified “Covid-19” vaccines.

Kaspersky said that majority of sellers came from France, Germany, the UK and the US, and the prices per dose ranged from $250 to $1,200, with an average cost of about $500.

The negotiations are done via encrypted messaging apps like Wickr and Telegram, while payments are requested in the form of cryptocurrency, primarily bitcoin.

It is said that majority of these underground sellers have made between 100 and 500 transactions, indicating that they’ve been completing sales, but what exactly Darknet users are purchasing remains unclear.

With the information available to Kaspersky experts, it would be difficult to tell how many of the vaccine doses being advertised online are actual doses (many medical facilities have found themselves with leftover doses) and how many advertisements are a scam.

“You can find just about anything on the Darknet, so it’s not surprising sellers there would attempt to capitalize on the vaccination campaign. Over the past year, there have been a whole host of scams exploiting the Covid topic, and many of them have been successful. Right now, not only are people selling vaccine doses, but they’re also selling vaccination records—pieces of paper that can help you travel freely. It’s important for users to be cautious of any “deal” related to the pandemic, and, of course, it’s never a good idea to buy a vaccine off the Darknet,” said Dmitry Galov, security expert at Kaspersky.

They warned that even if one receives something in the mail, most likely what one would receive would not be an effective, valid dose.

“More importantly, obtaining such doses is illegal.”

To keep the public safe and avoid scammers during this time of pandemic, Kaspersky experts have recommended:

• Never buy products—including vaccine doses—on the Darknet

• If you see an advertisement for something related to Covid, look carefully at the URLS of the sites that you visit. If just one letter looks out of place, or if the usual. com has been replaced with .com. tk or something along those lines, your gut should tell you it’s phishing. Never enter personal information on such a site.

• Pay attention to grammar and layout on both the sites you visit and the emails you receive. If something smells phishy, it probably is.