In a central neighborhood of Mexico City, a man offers false certificates of vaccination against COVID-19 to those who require it to travel abroad, ensuring that the deception will go unnoticed by the authorities.
The scam is the newest “service” available in Santo Domingo, a busy sector of the historic center known forever for its printers, notaries and counterfeiters.
The menu of birth certificates, driver’s licenses, professional titles or apocryphal passports was added a few days ago that of vaccination certificates against the coronavirus.
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Clients are usually travelers whose immunization schedule is incomplete or recipients of vaccines not admitted in the country they want to visit.
“If he was vaccinated with the Chinese, here we change it to Pfizer or Sputnik V,” says Cris, a man in his 50s, as confirmed by AFP on a tour of the area.
Undeterred by the presence of some police officers, Cris details to those interested his rate, which ranges from 1,100 to 2,000 Mexican pesos (between 56 and 100 dollars).
“In two hours you will have your document,” promises the seller, who wears a blue mask that covers half his face.
The Ministry of Health recently announced that vaccinated people can download their immunization certificate for free, through an official website, useful for traveling abroad and other procedures.
“Here come people who only have one vaccine (out of two) or need to change it for another,” explains Cris.
In Mexico, of the 126 million inhabitants, 21.3 million received a complete vaccination scheme, according to official data as of July 15. The brands that apply are Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Sputnik V, Cansino and Janssen.
Technology fraud
The official document has a QR code that, when scanned, redirects whoever consults it to a government page where it is certified that the holder has received full immunization. The counterfeiters offer to alter that code.
Cybersecurity specialist Carlos Ramírez explains that to achieve this, criminals would have to have “the ability and sagacity to set up their own technological domains” and make faithful copies of government websites.
Subsequently, they can “load each QR with the data requested by customers”, a challenging but not impossible possibility for cybercriminals.
The Ministry of Health of Mexico did not respond to a request for information from the AFP about its digital security protocols and the measures it will take in the face of these falsifications.
The issuance of apocryphal certificates is not the first fraudulent activity to emerge in a pandemic.
Counterfeit Pfizer vaccines, which were sold for up to $ 1,000 a unit, were identified in Mexico and Poland, according to the pharmaceutical company last April.
In March, Mexican authorities seized a shipment of suspected Sputnik V vaccines on a private plane bound for Honduras. Russia’s Direct Investment Fund confirmed the doses were fake.
In Santo Domingo, for about $ 30, you can also buy adulterated copies of laboratory tests with a negative diagnosis of COVID-19.
The penal code punishes the falsification of public documents with imprisonment of four to eight years.
Mexico is the fourth worst hit country in the world in absolute numbers, with 235,740 deaths, behind the United States, Brazil and India.
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