Covid-19 vaccine scam busted, but more conmen still on prowl

Two accused (sitting) were arrested by the Unit X of the Crime Branch on Wednesday

Despite repeatedly exposing scammers selling fake vaccination certificates across the city, there seems to be no end to this malpractice. In the past month, the city cops have registered four cases involving bogus vaccination certificates, which are being sold for up to Rs 1,500. The police said mobile numbers of ordinary citizens are being misused to generate these documents for unvaccinated people.

Several places in the city, including local trains, require users to be fully vaccinated. This is pushing a lot of unvaccinated people to take the illegal route. On Wednesday, the Unit X of the Crime Branch arrested two persons, both 21 years of age, from Siddharth Hospital in Goregaon West for allegedly selling fake vaccination certificates for Rs 1,500.

A genuine beneficiary being administered a vaccine dose at Nair hospital on Thursday. Pic/Ashish Raje

The police said duo - Sahad Sajid Shaikh and Maviya Abdul huqu Bhoraniya - were taken into custody on an alert that they had arranged fake vaccination certificates for more than 75 people on Monday. Health officials were also part of the operation. The cops recovered two mobile phones and a few fake certificates in which the space for the beneficiary's name had been left blank. Both Shaikh and Bhoraniya live in Grant Road. "We are now in the process of finding out how many more people have acquired the fake vaccination certificates from the accused," said an officer Crime Branch's Unit X.

Officers said this is the fourth such case in the past 30 days. The anti-extortion cell of the Thane police recently arrested a 19-year-old man from Nalasopara for selling about 20 bogus vaccination certificates for Rs 700 each. The accused, Saurabh Singh, was working in an urban health centre at Palghar where he learnt to generate the documents and had access to the centre's CoWIN login ID and password.

Citizens worried

Several citizens have also raised concerns over their numbers being misused. Vikash Verma, a film producer, director and businessman, had a similar experience. "I took both the doses 8 months back, but a couple of days ago, I received 2 OTPs of CoWIN login and two SMSes mentioning Aswani and Govind followed," he said.

A genuine beneficiary gets a dose of Covid vaccine at Nair hospital on Thursday. Several unvaccinated people are rushing to get vaccination certificates through unscrupulous means as the documents are required to use several amenities, including the local trains, in the city. Pic/Ashish Raje

Verma, who also runs a security group, told mid-day, "I was shocked. Had it happened once, I would have thought it was a mistake but twice can't be a mistake. There is certainly something wrong going here. I think the cops must investigate this. These frauds could be happening with many people. If OTPs are not getting shared, how are these people getting vaccinated?"

Abhishek Singh reached out to the Mumbai police on Twitter seeking their intervention. "@MahaCyber1 someone has used my phone number on Cowin Portal ... This is very absurd please look into this matter i have not shared any otp or given permission to use my phone number [sic]," he wrote on the microblogging platform.

‘Scammers have access to CoWIN credentials'

The Crime Branch's Unit 7 and Sakinaka cops have also arrested a few touts dealing in fake certificates. "Most of these accused have some kind of access to the CoWIN portal. They manage to get the certificates with the help of the login ID and password. Once they learn to make the certificates, they keep repeating it for easy money," said a senior officer.

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No. of fake certificates arranged by two men held on Wednesday