They dismantled a network in Italy selling vaccines and fake vaccination certificates

Italian police dismantled a network that sold fake EU vaccination certificates and vaccine vials on the internet, where buy and sell operations could be completed by payment in cryptocurrency and for which thousands of users had signed up.

Agents of the Financial Guard and of the Fraud and Cybercrime Service of the Milan Prosecutor’s Office located and confiscated ten Telegram accounts and channels from which users were sent to anonymous deep internet accounts where fake certificates and vaccines could be obtainedlocal media reported.

“The new criminal activity focused mainly on the sale of European vaccination certificates with false vaccine identification data, the corresponding, specially created QR code, and the number that identifies the original batch of the first and second vaccine doses’said the police.

Cybercriminals claimed that false certificates could even be given to people residing in countries outside the European Union (EU), such as the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

“Despite the exorbitant prices and skyrocketing health risks», Underlines the police, thousands of people had signed up for illegal circuits in search of vaccines and certificates, attracted by the opportunity to buy “all-inclusive” packages the price of which varied from 110 to 130 euros, with guarantee of anonymity, tracking and traceability of the shipment.

Italy hopes COVID passport will speed up tourism

Recently, the Italian authorities announced that Passengers from the UK will have to undergo a brief quarantine, while those from other countries will be able to enter freely with the ‘COVID passport’, to speed up tourism.

“We have signed a new ordinance which allows the entry of the countries of the European Union, the United States, Canada and Japan with the green certificate”, also known as COVID Passport, announced on Facebook the Italian Minister of Health, Roberto Hope.

The certificate is a health document that certifies that the person has been vaccinated against the coronavirus, that they have overcome the disease or that they have tested negative on a COVID-19 detection testexplained the minister.

The intention is that the certificate allow travel through the 27 EU countries and four countries that have joined the initiative (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein).

All EU countries are already interconnected to the system, with the exception of Ireland, which suffered a cyberattack on its healthcare network but hopes to join the project on July 19.

Travelers arriving from the United Kingdom, where the Delta variant is predominant, will need to complete a five-day quarantine and get tested for COVID-19.

Italy also prohibits entry into the national territory to travelers from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The country is waiting increase the number of tourists by 20% in the coming months of the boreal summer and thus be able to reactivate the tourism sector which represents nearly 14% of the GDP, and has been hit hard by the pandemic.

According to various government officials, Italy will remove the requirement to wear the mask outside during the first half of July.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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