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© Joan Slatkin / Education Images / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A Californian woman has been arrested and slapped on two counts – for distributing fake vaccine cards and selling fake drugs that she says will give life-long immunity to COVID. Joan Slatkin / Education Images / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
- A Californian woman was charged on Wednesday with distributing fake vaccination cards.
- The Justice Department alleged that Juli Mazi, 41, was handing out the cards as well as selling fake pills.
- According to the DOJ, Mazi has made false claims that the pills confer lifelong immunity to COVID.
- Visit the Insider home page for more stories.
A California woman licensed to practice as a homeopathic doctor was arrested and charged this week for allegedly distributing bogus vaccination cards.
The Justice Department said in a press release on Wednesday that Napa resident Juli Mazi had been charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of misrepresenting health issues. Mazi’s alleged scheme involved the sale of fake drugs and forged vaccination cards. According to the DOJ, this is the first time anyone has been accused of distributing fake versions of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccination cards.
According to a criminal complaint viewed by Insider, Mazi claimed that the pills, which she called “homeoprophylactic vaccination pellets,” contained a trace amount of the COVID virus. She told clients that ingesting them would give someone lifelong immunity to COVID. In addition to the pills, Mazi is said to be donating counterfeit CDC COVID vaccination cards.
Video: Federal government warns of fake COVID-19 vaccine cards (CBS Dallas)
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FOLLOWING
The fake cards incorrectly indicated that Mazi’s customers had received the Moderna COVID vaccine, according to the complaint. The complaint noted that Mazi has also instructed its customers how to fill out fake vaccine cards using real Moderna vaccine lot numbers.
According to the DOJ, Mazi would encourage its customers to buy its pills for their children and babies, claiming that vaccines approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) contain “toxic ingredients.”
“This defendant allegedly defrauded and endangered the public by attacking fears and spreading misinformation about FDA-approved vaccinations, while peddling bogus treatments that endanger people’s lives. Worse, l ‘accused allegedly created counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards and instructed clients to falsely mark that they had received a vaccine, allowing them to bypass efforts to contain the spread of the disease, ”said the Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in DOJ press release.
“Spreading inaccurate or false medical information about COVID-19 for personal gain, as the complaint alleges, is dangerous and only arouses public skepticism,” said Officer Craig Fair, of the office of Federal Bureau of Investigation field in San Francisco, DOJ press release.
The FBI has warned that trading fake COVID vaccine cards online is a crime. Facebook, eBay and other online marketplaces have removed lists of counterfeit COVID vaccine cards to prevent sellers from profiting from the sale of these illegal items. However, Insider’s Chris Stokel-Walker revealed in an investigation in May that it’s easier than you might think to just print vaccine cards through online print-on-demand services.
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