The Manhattan district attorney has charged a 31-year-old New Jersey woman for allegedly selling fake COVID-19 vaccine cards on her Instagram account @AntiVaxMomma.
The woman, Jasmine Clifford, sold about 250 forged vaccine cards on the social media platform, according to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who announced the fraud charges while urging Instagram’s owner Facebook to crack down more forcefully on online sales of fake vaccine cards.
“The stakes are too high to tackle fake vaccination cards with whack-a-mole prosecutions,” he said in the announcement. “We need companies like Facebook to take action to prevent the fraud happening on their platforms.”
According to Vance, Clifford began selling the fake vaccine cards on Instagram in May and received a $200 payment for each card using CashApp and Zelle. In addition, Clifford offered another service for $250 to fraudulently add a customer’s name into the New York State Immunization Information System, marking them as vaccinated against COVID-19.
To do so, Clifford worked with another woman named Nadayza Barkley, who was employed at a medical clinic in New York and had access to the immunization database. In total, Clifford and Barkley allegedly entered at least 10 customers into the database.
Manhattan prosecutors also charged Barkley for committing the conspiracy, along with 13 customers who bought fake vaccine cards. “Among the individuals who purchased fake vaccination cards, 13 work in public-facing or other essential-employee settings—including hospitals, medical and nursing schools, and nursing homes,” the Manhattan DA’s office noted.
The charges arrive as social media platforms have found themselves in a tug-of-war between the pro- and anti-vaccine crowd. The companies are trying to balance fighting COVID-19 misinformation that could endanger user lives while also preserving free speech. However, public health advocates and President Biden himself have urged Facebook to do more to stamp out misinformation.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the social network has been trying to remove or bury the COVID-19 vaccine misinformation while also redirecting users to information on the pandemic from credible health organizations. The Instagram account @AntiVaxMomma has also been shut down.
