Jasmine Clifford, aka @AntivaxMomma, allegedly used her Instagram account to sell forged COVID vaccine cards to 250 people, including 13 frontline workers in hospitals and nursing homes.
The Instagram scam began in May. From BuzzFeed News:
Clifford began advertising the counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards through her Instagram account, which is no longer active, in May, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The cards cost $200 and buyers used CashApp or Zelle to pay for them, prosecutors said. For another $250, Clifford allegedly worked with Nadayza Barkley, a 27-year-old medical clinic employee in Patchogue, New York, to fraudulently enter at least 10 people into the New York State Immunization Information System database.
Prosecutors said Clifford, 31, sold about 250 cards via Instagram. Additional charges were also filed Monday against 15 people involved in the fake vaccination card scheme.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has called on Facebook, which owns Instagram, to do a better job of policing this kind of potentially deadly fraud.
Not surprisingly, the Zuckerberg empire claims to be on top of the matter but it didn’t remove Clifford’s account until August, The New York Times reported. But now Zuckerberg, Inc. promises to do better in the future.
A spokesman for Facebook said the platform prohibited anyone from buying or selling vaccine cards, that it had removed Ms. Clifford’s account at the beginning of August, and that it would review any other accounts that might be doing the same thing, removing any it turned up.
Let’s just hope nobody dies as a result in the meanwhile.
Told you...
I've uncovered evidence of a scam allowing the unvaccinated to appear vaccinated, but how many? pic.twitter.com/bbFpZ8Kpcm— Michael Mc (@TizzyEnt) August 25, 2021
