The leap in quality, as investigators call it, occurred in mid-July, when the fakes vaccination certificates, now known as the Green Pass and useful not only for traveling from one country to another, but also to dine in a restaurant, go to the cinema or work out in the gym, have moved from the Dark Web to Telegram groups. Exponentially increasing their audience.
An analysis of Check Point Software, an Israeli company active in cybersecurity, which Italian Tech was able to preview, has registered a 257% increase in the number of scammers who use the well-known messaging app to sell fake Green Passes from March to today. More: Check Point estimates that to date over 2500 groups are currently active and their following has increased by 566%: some even exceed 450 thousand subscribers, while the worldwide average is 100 thousand subscribers each. Counterfeiters are active in all European countries, including Italy, but especially in the United Kingdom and Germany and also in the United States and would be able to create fake Cdc, Nhs and Eu Digital Covid certificates (what we know as Green Pass ), whose price has halved, dropping from $ 200 each in March to $ 100 today.
False Pass and false swabs against “this poisonous vaccine“
According to the findings of Check Point, counterfeiters would also be able to reproduce tampons with negative results (useful for having a real Green Pass for 48 hours) and they base much of their communication activity on the fears of the No Vax: “We are here to save the world from this poisonous vaccine”, reads some messages. How on Italian Tech we have already mentioned, sellers mainly accept payments in cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Monero, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and others), but also with PayPal and in rarer cases with gift cards Steam, Amazon ed eBay.
According to the report, i channels most used by counterfeiters to look for buyers are Telegram, WhatsApp, Wickr, Jabber and even emails.
You risk being scammed twice
As the chronicles of recent days show, with many people who have paid hundreds of euros without then receiving anything, the risk is to suffer a scam within the scam: you pay for a fake and then you will hardly get it. Because the scammers obviously only care about money, certainly not “saving the world from the vaccine“.
For those who buy there is also another risk: the data that are provided to the counterfeiters (name, surname, date of birth, address and perhaps even tax code) are the same on which the campaigns of phishing o di spam and other scams organized on mail or through the sms. As Check Point also recommends, it is better to “stay away” from the dark side of the Internet, “typically involved in drug and cyber weapons sales” with which it is advisable not to deal.
After almost a year of studies and research on the subject, Oded Vanunu, responsabile della Products Vulnerabilities Research di Check Point, he recalled that “fake vaccination certificates are available for purchase in almost all countries: all you have to do is indicate the country you are in and what you are looking for. Sellers have chosen Telegram because it is an easier platform to use, through which they can reach one very quickly huge amount of people“. Again: “We believe that this growth is also fueled by the rapid spread of the Delta variant and by people who do not want to get vaccinated, but still want the freedoms that come with vaccination. I highly recommend to do not rely on these sellers for any reason, since they aim at more than selling fake vaccination certificates ”.
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