As soon as mandatory proof of vaccination became a thing in the private sector, critics immediately became worried about the inevitable proliferation of fake vaccination cards. This was particularly true among college administrators, who worried that healthy young people who were not concerned about catching COVID and were unsure about the vaccines would be out looking to score a fake vax card just as easily as they sought out a fake ID to buy beer. But with the CDC cards being so ludicrously easy to make for yourself, would anyone really be selling them? Apparently so, and if you can produce a good enough quality replica, you can charge a fair amount of money for it. That’s what was discovered in New Jersey, where a housewife using the online pseudonym “Anti-Vax Momma” was found to have sold hundreds of the cards. And she was raking in a considerable amount of cash. (NJ.com)

A New Jersey woman – who went by “AntiVaxMomma” online – was accused Tuesday of selling about 250 fake COVID-19 vaccination cards using Instagram while healthcare workers who bought the bogus cards were also charged, New York prosecutors said.

Jasmine Clifford, of Lyndhurst, peddled the fake cards using her self-described anti-vaccine social media account for about $200, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office…

Thirteen people who bought the fake Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cards work in “frontline and essential-employee settings, including hospitals and nursing homes,” according to the district attorney’s office.

Compounding the matter was the fact that Ms. Clifford had an accomplice named Nadayza Barkley who worked at a New York health clinic where vaccines were administered. Barkley would add the client’s name to the state database of vaccinated patients for an additional fee of $250. That meant that even if someone suspected the card was a forgery, it would hold up under scrutiny, making it almost impossible to detect.

I’ll first say that this was an industrious and profitable (if completely illegal) enterprise. Jasmine Clifford must have racked up $50,000 dollars in sales. And if a significant number of customers opted to have their names entered into the database, her accomplice probably took in the same amount.

Compounding the worry over this report is the fact that more than a dozen of their customers were “frontline and essential-employee settings, including hospitals and nursing homes.” I’m sure everyone feels more secure now, right?

Now, however, the perpetrators will be paying a hefty price if they are convicted. They are facing charges including criminal possession of a forged instrument, offering a false instrument for filing, and conspiracy. That can add up to significant jail time and hefty fines. Some of the customers are also being charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument.

The real problem that’s not addressed in this report is this uncomfortable reality that this is just one person (or team) that they caught. How many more are out there and still in operation? And as I already mentioned above, how many more people weren’t running a large, organized distribution ring but simply created one of their own? If the system is that easy to game, it’s not terribly useful and people aren’t going to have confidence in it.

Don’t expect this to be the last of these stories you read. The entire idea of immunity passports was flawed from the beginning and very open to abuse and fraud. And there will always be people ready to take advantage of it.