Feds seize 2 shipments of fake covid vaccination cards in Pittsburgh

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized two shipments of fake covid-19 vaccination cards in Pittsburgh.

Officers intercepted the first parcel of 20 fake vaccine cards on Aug. 24 after determining the cards “presented a low-quality appearance and that they were being important by a consignee who is not from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or a certified medical entity,” CBP officials wrote in a statement released Wednesday.

The cards were being shipped to a Beaver County address, officials said.

Officers placed a hold on a second shipment destined to the same Beaver County consignee. That parcel, which contained 50 fake covid-19 vaccine cards, was seized when it arrived on Sept. 7.

Both parcels containing a total of 70 fake vaccination cards were shipped from China.

An investigation is ongoing.

CBP officers in Chicago, Memphis and Anchorage have seized more than 6,000 counterfeit vaccination cards.

The FBI has warned the public that making, buying, selling or using fake vaccine cards is illegal. Filling in blank vaccination record cards with false information, the FBI said, is also illegal.

In an alert issued in the spring, the FBI warned of individuals advertising such cards on social media website, e-commerce platforms and blogs.

Some colleges and universities requiring covid-19 vaccination for students worried at the start of the school year that unvaccinated students would use fake vaccination cards to skirt their vaccine mandates.

“Coronavirus and its variants continues to pose a serious health and safety threat to American citizens, and so do unscrupulous vendors who peddle counterfeit covid vaccination cards,” said William Fitting, CBP’s Port Director in Pittsburgh. “Customs and Border Protection will continue to intercept counterfeit goods, such as these fake vaccine cards, that threaten our nation, our people and our economy.”