U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents working at Chicago O’Hare International Airport’s mail facility seized 19 counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards, the agency said in a news release Tuesday.
The fake cards, seized Aug. 31, were on their way to a residential address in Wapakoneta, Ohio, the agency said. They had come from China.
The cards looked similar to legitimate vaccination cards, the agency said, but “appeared to be fraudulent due to their low-quality appearance and misspelled words.”
Customs and Border Protection had turned the case over to the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said customs spokesman Steve Bansbach, when asked whether there would be charges in the case.
“The investigation on their side is ongoing,” he added.
The agency also recently seized over 3,000 fake vaccination cards at the port of Anchorage.
“Counterfeiters are savvy and follow trends in consumer demand, including the high demand for vaccination cards during the pandemic,” LaFonda Sutton-Burke, the director of field operations for the Chicago customs office, is quoted as saying in the news release.
Last month, Chicago pharmacist Tangtang Zhao was arrested for allegedly taking vaccination cards from his employer, a national pharmacy chain, and selling them online for $10 each.
Also in August, Oak Lawn resident Chloe Mrozak was arrested at an Oahu airport after she entered Hawaii with a fake COVID-19 vaccination card that misspelled the drug company Moderna as “Maderna.”
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