Fake vaccination certificate found through Telegram leaves woman exposed to identity theft

Think you can get a fake vaccination certificate online? Think again. You could quickly fall victim to cyber criminals, writes Kathy Sundstrom

There are generally three key ingredients to the making of a good scam: demand, confusion, and association with a recognised entity.

Add a fourth – fear of reporting it – and you have the making of the perfect scam. And this is what is happening with fake vaccination certificates in Australia.

Thankfully one client overcame her fear of being caught paying for an illegal fake vaccination certificate to share her story. Let’s call her Lucy.

Lucy lives in Western Australia and works in a support service sector which required her to be double vaccinated by a certain date.

She wasn’t against vaccinations, but she said she had an adverse effect to the first dose and was weary about having a second.

With the date for her vaccination certificate drawing close, Lucy looked on the encrypted messaging app, Telegram.

Telegram has become a favourite haunt for anti-lockdown protesters.

She saw a channel by @drcadel who was offering fake vaccination certificates for sale and Lucy filed in the form.

“I did it just to buy myself an extra week or two,” she said.

She paid $500 in Bitcoin and provided “Dr Cadel” her driver‘s licence and Medicare card, thinking it was needed for the certificate.

When no certificate arrived, she began to suspect it might be a scam and asked ‘Dr Cadel” directly.

The response was immediate – the scammer demanded another $1000, claiming they had her “full information”.

“This is a small price to pay for your freedom. Think of what will be done to you when you get caught for attempting to buy a fake exemption,” she was warned.

Kathy Sundstrom is a former Sunshine Coast Daily reporter who now works for cyber safety firm IDCARE. Picture: Patrick Woods

The scammer gave her 30 minutes to “make a decision” and provided a Bitcoin wallet to send the money to.

The situation was terrifying for Lucy as she was legitimately nervous that she would be reported and would lose her job, or maybe face a conviction.

However, Lucy reported the incident to police and has contacted IDCARE who is providing support on how to protect her identity going forward.

Unfortunately, scammers can use valuable credentials like a driver’s licence and Medicare card to access existing accounts or create new ones in a person’s name.

And it is not possible to change a driver‘s licence number in Western Australia, meaning she will face the ongoing risk of identity theft.

Lucy said she knew of many others concerned about the vaccination who were on Telegram, searching for vaccination certificates.

“People are desperate at the moment, they will do anything,” she said.

Buying a vaccination certificate is always going to lead to heartache though. Just don’t do it.