“Fake” certificates of vaccination began to be offered one and a half times more often

Number of offers to sell fictitious certificates from covid-19doubled, IT-companies fix. This happened against the backdrop of new anti-COVID restrictions and mandatory vaccination for workers in the trade and services sector.

Demand for fakes after the introduction of mandatory vaccination

The number of offers to sell COVID-19 vaccination certificates increased by 50% after the introduction of mandatory vaccination for trade and service workers. Evgeny Egorov, Leading Analyst of the Group-IB Digital Risk Protection Department, reported this to RBC.

Since June 16, Group-IB specialists have identified 61 offers for the sale of vaccination certificates, which is twice the number of offers identified for the whole of May. Most announcements for the sale of certificates are distributed through instant messengers and shadow forums, while on websites and social networks they are becoming less and less, the company notes.

When was mandatory vaccination announced?

On June 16, the Moscow authorities announced the introduction of mandatory vaccination for workers in the trade and services sector. Employers in a number of areas must vaccinate at least 60% of employees with the first dose by July 15, and the second dose by August 15. Following Moscow, similar measures were introduced in some other regions: Nizhny Novgorod, Murmansk, Tula, Leningrad, Tver and other regions.

Over the past week, the market for the sale of certificates has also changed. “Until June 16, the number of proposals with the customer entered in the register of those vaccinated against CORONAVIRUS accounted for about half of all proposals. Now most of the new proposals include this service,” said Egorov. At the same time, he adds, the average price of fake certificates remains at the same level: from 1,200 to 3,000 rubles. - without entering into the register of vaccinated, and from 3,000 to 25,000 rubles. - with entry.

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The increase in the number of announcements for the sale of certificates is also recorded by the DIRECTOR of the block of expert services BI.ZONE Evgeny Voloshin. As he told RBC, at the moment, at least 33 current proposals have been posted on darknet forums: 12 of them were published in May, and 17 from June 1 to June 23. The average price of a certificate, according to Voloshin, is 11,000 rubles. Shadow forums and closed groups of "gray services" remain the main sales channel.

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Dmitry Galov, a cybersecurity expert at Kaspersky Lab, admitted that the increase in offers in the shadow segment of the Internet may be due to the introduction of new anti-COVID measures. “This is not surprising, because the black market, like any other, quickly reacts to current events,” he told RBC. However, he warned that it is not known what percentage of all published offers are outright fraudulent ads. According to the company as of March, the vaccination certificate is “wired”, i.e. with entry into the State Services system cost about 20,000 rubles.

Earlier, the In4security TELEGRAM channel reported that approximately 360 new domains appeared in May related to the sale of vaccination certificates.

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RBC correspondent contacted several sellers of fake certificates. The passport of the vaccinated with a QR code and display in the register of public services offered to purchase from 2800 to 5000 thousand rubles. “If it’s just a piece of paper, it’s of no use, you can print any one there, make it. We will have everything officially in public services, ”the seller assured. You can put the first injection within a day, a mark on the second injection would appear after 21 days. The certificate promised vaccination with Sputnik V. When asked where the vaccine would be delivered geographically, one of the sellers said that the fictitious vaccination would be in Voronezh.

In mid-June, a Baza correspondent told how he bought a similar vaccination certificate with Sputnik V. After a while, a note about vaccination appeared on his page in the State Services. The fictitious vaccination cost 12,000 rubles.

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How to deal with the sale of fake certificates

In Moscow, 24 criminal cases were opened on false vaccination certificates, the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow reported. Cases sent to COURT; sellers of fake certificates are accused under Art. 327 of the Criminal Code "Forgery, production or circulation of forged documents, state awards, stamps, seals or forms." The article provides for imprisonment of up to two years, and if a person has sold fakes several times, up to four years.

The police of St. Petersburg also reported on test purchases. In two days, five facts of the sale of certificates were revealed, in one of the districts of the city, the police detained a mobile shop, in which there were forms of medical documents and stamps of medical institutions. RBC sent a request to the press service of the Russian Interior Ministry. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that illegal business should be severely suppressed by the police, but the duty of every Russian is not to support illegal trade.

Sites selling ads with fake certificates are blocked by Roskomnadzor. Since June 21, five materials with offers to sell vaccination certificates and certificates of the absence of COVID-19 have been blocked or removed, RBC was told in the press service of the department. Roskomnadzor added that in total in 2021, on the basis of court decisions and the requirements of the Prosecutor General's Office, 224 pages were closed, including those containing such announcements.

Responsibility is provided not only for those who forge certificates, but also for those who buy them. On Thursday, June 24, Yandex added a disclaimer to the search results when requesting the purchase of a coronavirus vaccination certificate that the use of fake medical certificates is punishable under Part 3 of Art. 327 of the Criminal Code (punishment up to imprisonment for up to 1 year). As a Yandex representative explained, the company "cares about its users and wants to warn them about the possible responsibility for purchasing vaccination certificates."

Lawyer Victoria Danilchenko told RBC that the buyer of a fake certificate would be liable for the use of a fake document (part 5 of article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The article assumes a fine of up to 80 thousand rubles. or in wages. At the same time, the lawyer does not exclude that the person caught for using the certificate may be charged with falsifying it. Then the punishment will be more severe. “When a person is caught with a fake document, there is a chance that they will not figure out whether other people forged it or not,” she said. According to Danilchenko, in the near future an increasing number of people will be held accountable for the purchase of certificates. Now part 5 of the article is most often applied to those who use a fake passport or provide deliberately false materials in court.