A FEW days ago, police reportedly arrested a doctor and seized 1,900 Covid-19 vaccination certificates, believed to be fake, in Terengganu.

This doctor has apparently been operating and selling these fake certificates online since last September, each certificate costing between RM400 and RM600.

YB, do you sincerely believe this is the work of just one rogue doctor? And is this rogue doctor so skilled in software that he can just print 1,900 of those fake vaccination certificates for sale? If he was caught with 1,900 fake certificates, how many certificates did he sell before his “business” was uncovered?

It is also no surprise to find the authorities struggling to stay on top of things, understand who is selling it and how many fake passes are already in circulation.

Vaccination cards are intended to provide recipients of the Covid vaccine with important information on the type of vaccine they received and their dates of inoculation.

Fake vaccination certificates can put lives at risk and greatly jeopardise disease control.

The creation, purchase or sale of vaccine cards is illegal and endangers public safety. In creating and buying a false vaccination certificate, both the seller and the buyers already committed an act of fraud.

The forging of vaccine certificates is highly likely done by a team of people or a criminal syndicate as this can potentially be a means to other ends, such as smuggling of migrants and bringing in foreign workers without legitimate vaccination. There is always the possibility of this group of people or syndicates having inside help from the relevant ministries or agencies for their records to be in the MySejahtera database.

It is not uncommon to find organised crime groups investing heavily in the production of fake certificates to support a growing criminal market. Fake vaccination certificates is the latest trend associated with this pandemic. An Irish organised crime group developed a mobile application that allows members of the group to manually falsify test results. Police busted them.

Stopping these groups of people or the syndicate can thus disrupt a range of other crimes.

Under the present scenario, as long as travel restrictions remain in place due to Covid, it is highly likely that production and sales of fake vaccine certificates will prevail.

Generally, these criminal groups produce the fake certificates elsewhere or outside the country and then ship it to the respective recipients via local courier or delivery companies. The beneficiaries, counterfeiters and suppliers communicate via social media networks.

There would be a main contact acting as a central interface between the counterfeiters and supervise a wide network of individuals hunting potential customers for these services.

According to Check Point Research (CPR), which monitors the black market where fake Covid-19 vaccine passes were being sold to anyone willing to pay, fake vaccine certificates are now being sold in 29 countries with prices averaging from RM85 to RM350. From August to September 2021, CPR noted a 10-fold increase in number of vendors claiming to offer fake vaccine certificates on Telegram.

The health minister’s declaration last month that those who did not take their boosters by the end of next month will be deemed as not fully vaccinated, will affects hundreds of thousands of Malaysians.

Wherever there’s demand, there’s supply. Not everyone wants to get vaccinated. Combine that with a desire to keep up with rising documentation requirements as society opens up, you begin to see the temptations for those not willing to be vaccinated to fake them.

In Austria, organised crime groups created a Telegram bot that makes fake certificates for free! All one needs to do is fill in the relevant details and a PDF file will be shared with them containing all their filled data, such as in the case attached – a negative PCR test. All the organised crime groups ask for are the personal details of those who filled in the forms.

In another country in the Middle East, the Telegram app offering sale of fake certificates included the option to create a fake vaccination certificate or Covid-19 card indicating the owner had recovered from the infection while some claimed to have access to the country’s database of vaccinated people that they can even register the applicants inside the database.

If a third party were to check, the applicants will be registered as a real vaccinated person, which in reality is a fake database.

The government and the relevant agencies need to initiate and take stronger action against this type of crime so that the Covid system isn’t full of holes.

Linking MySejahtera to the passports of fully vaccinated Malaysians could be one of the possible solutions. If these fake certificates are not addressed, other Malaysian citizens may be barred from entering a lot of countries in the future.

Or, verification could be made simpler through cloud-based biometric data system, doing away with the QR codes as an additional feature.

To address this, no one can act in silo. Police, together with the Immigration, Customs and health authorities, should facilitate the exchange of intelligence, have operational and strategic meetings. The Health Ministry can also provide tailored analytical support for ongoing investigations with the data they have.

As the defence minister said, the full force of the law should be used against those responsible for making fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates. – January 13, 2022.

* FLK reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.