Chicago authorities have charged a resident pharmacist who is accused of selling fraudulent coronavirus vaccine cards on eBay for $10 each, the latest seizure in the city where officials are already struggling to control thousands of counterfeit vaccine cards.
Law enforcement identified the suspect as 34-year-old Tangtang Zhao, who allegedly sold more than 125 authentic Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccination cards to 11 different customers from March to April. Authorities indicted the medical practitioner on 12 counts of theft of government property.
Stolen Coronavirus Vaccine Card
In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department's Criminal Division said that officials were taking the situation very seriously. He noted that they would begin investigating the incident. Polite Jr. said the DOJ and its partners were vigorously committed to protecting the safety of the American people, NPR reported.
In recent months, authorities discovered a black market for blank vaccine cards that have begun becoming available online. Federal officials said it was a crime for unvaccinated residents to use these cards. They are issued for free to people who have received their COVID-19 vaccines, which are also free.
Special Agent Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. from the Chicago Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said that giving vaccine cards to unvaccinated residents was dangerous. He added the act endangered millions of Americans who could become seriously ill or die of complications. Buie Jr. said the cheap price of the cards undermined the threat to the safety of the nation.
Former federal prosecutor Gil Soffer said the DOJ's statements suggested it would not tolerate any level of fraud or criminal activities regarding the COVID-19. Soffer said that before the pandemic, the type of criminal case would not have been elevated to a federal case, but the health crisis has changed the situation dramatically, ABC7 Chicago reported.
Counterfeit Vaccine Cards
A Walgreens spokesperson said that the suspect has not worked for the company since late April and that they are willing to cooperate with the government in its investigation. Zhao has had an active pharmacist license with the state of Illinois since 2018. However, a complaint filed against him has scheduled a hearing regarding his status on Monday.
The incident comes as officials are struggling to control the surge of fraudulent vaccination cards across the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized more fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards in Memphis last week, the latest in a series of large seizures where thousands have already been confiscated this year.
In a statement, the agency said that Memphis officers discovered a suspicious shipment from Shenzhen, China. The package was on its way to the central business district of New Orleans. The manifest of the shipment wrote, "PAPER CARD, PAPER" and authorities already knew what was inside. They later found 51 counterfeit COVID-19 vaccine cards inside the package after opening it up.
In a press release, the agency said the vaccine cards were blanked on the recipient's name and birthdate, the vaccine maker, lot number, and date and place the vaccination was conducted. They said the Centers for Disease Control logo was also left blank on the upper right side of the document, USA Today reported.
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