Kaspersky researchers examined 15 different marketplaces on the Darknet and found advertisements for three major COVID vaccines: Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Moderna. There were also sellers advertising unverified “COVID19” vaccines.
We're told the majority of sellers came France, Germany, the UK, and the USA, and the prices per dose ranged from $250 to $1200, with an average cost of about $500.
Communications are made via encrypted messaging apps like Wickr and Telegram, while payments are requested in the form of cryptocurrency, primarily bitcoin.
Incredibly, the majority of these underground sellers have already made between 100-500 transactions, indicating that they’ve been completing sales, but what exactly Darknet users are purchasing remains unclear.
Kaspersky states that with the information available to its experts, it’s impossible to tell how many of the vaccines doses being advertised online are actual doses (many medical facilities have found themselves with leftover doses) and how many advertisements are a scam.
Even if you did receive something in the mail, most likely what you would receive would not be an effective, valid dose, especially with Pfizer vaccines needing to be stored at minus 70 degrees celsius, which is minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit. Any such dose received in the mail would be spoiled and a potential killer at worst, and completely ineffective at best. More importantly, obtaining such doses is illegal.
“You can find just about anything on the Darknet, so it’s not surprising sellers there would attempt to capitalise on the vaccination campaign. Over the past year, there have been a whole host of scams exploiting the COVID topic, and many of them have been successful.
"Right now, not only are people selling vaccine doses, but they’re also selling vaccination records —pieces of paper that can help you travel freely. It’s important for users to be cautious of any “deal” related to the pandemic, and, of course, it’s never a good idea to buy a vaccine off the Darknet,” comments Dmitry Galov, security expert at Kaspersky.
Learn more about these Darknet vaccines on Kdaily, where Kaspersky has a daily blog.
So, what do Kaspersky experts recommend yo stay safe from scammers in the time of COVID?
- Never buy products — including vaccine doses — on the Darknet
- If you see an advertisement for something related to COVID, look carefully at the URLs of the sites that you visit. If just one letter looks out of place, or if the usual .com has been replaced with .com.tk or something along those lines, your gut should tell you it’s phishing. Never enter personal information on such a site.
- Pay attention to grammar and layout on both the sites you visits and the emails you receive. If something smells phishy, it probably is.
Here are some screenshots that Kaspersky has captured from the dark web:
