Covid-19 vaccines sold on darknet from $250 to $1,200 and payed for with Bitcoin

Three major Covid-19 vaccines - Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Moderna - are being advertised on the market on the darknet and being payed for with Bitcoin, according to cyber security firm Kaspersky.

The price per vaccine ranges from $250 to $1,200, with the common cost about $500, the cyber security firm said. Besides, vaccines from the accepted manufacturers, the anonymous retailers are also marketing unverified Covid-19 vaccines.

The majority of those selling Covid-19 vaccines on the darknet are from France, Germany, the UK and the US, Kaspersky said, following an analysis of 15 covered marketplaces. The darknet can be a part of the internet that's not visible to find engines and necessitates the utilization of an anonymous browser, such as for example Tor, to get access.

Kaspersky said clients and sellers are communicating via encrypted messaging apps, like Wickr and Telegram, even while payments are requested found in the sort of cryptocurrency, primarily Bitcoin.

“You can find almost anything on the darknet, so it’s not surprising … sellers there would try to capitalise on the vaccination campaign,” Dmitry Galov, a security expert at Kaspersky, said. “Persons [are] selling [not simply] vaccine doses, nonetheless they are likewise selling vaccination records … bits of paper which will help you travel openly. Users should be careful of any deal linked to the pandemic … it’s never a good idea to acquire a vaccine off the darknet,” Mr Galov explained.

In the last year, many online fraudulent campaigns and scams exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic have been unearthed. Earlier this season, US authorities uncovered a criminal operation that was distributing fake Covid-19 vaccines for $1,000 and in addition seized a site that was marketing Covid-19 scams.

Kaspersky said the majority of underground retailers have made between 100 and 500 transactions, indicating that sales were occurring. But it remained unclear what precisely darknet users were purchasing.

“It really is impossible to show how lots of the vaccine doses getting advertised online are actual doses and just how many advertisements are a scam … probably what you would receive wouldn't normally be an effective, valid dose,” the business said.