Fifteen people are charged in a fake COVID-19 vaccination card conspiracy, the Manhattan District Attorney announced Tuesday.
Jasmine Clifford, 31, is accused of selling approximately 250 forged COVID-19 vaccinations cards on Instagram under the name AntiVaxMomma.
Authorities said she would charge $200 for the fake cards.
Clifford allegedly worked with Nadayza Barley, 27, to “fraudulently enter at least 10 individuals into the New York State Immunization Information System (“NYSIIS”) database.” Authorities said that “transaction” came at an additional $250 fee.
In addition to the charges Clifford and Barley face, 13 people were charged with purchasing the cards.
The district attorney says they are all believed to be frontline and essential workers.
“We will continue to safeguard public health in New York with proactive investigations like these, but the stakes are too high to tackle fake vaccination cards with whack-a-mole prosecutions,” said District Attorney Vance.
He also called on social media to do more to crack down on fraudulent vaccine card schemes.
“We need companies like Facebook to take action to prevent the fraud happening on their platforms. Making, selling, and purchasing forged vaccination cards are serious crimes with serious public safety consequences.”
