Once upon a time, art forgery and fake currency were how white collar criminals made their money. These days it’s fake social media profiles and fraudulent vaccination passports.

Historically, when a new legal document was created you could be sure that forgeries would soon follow. This is what’s been found with the digital vaccination passports required to travel, enter certain establishments and even return to your place of work.

Governments are working hard to stamp out this behaviour by removing websites and shutting down apps found to be offering these services. However, with the demand for these documents on the rise – it’s no surprise new sites are popping up in their place faster than law enforcement can keep up.

How to separate the real ones from the fakes

Policing the epidemic of fake Covid-19 vaccination passports is complicated, as much of the verification has been left to business proprietors rather than law enforcement. Some may not be able to tell the difference and understandably may not feel comfortable accusing their patrons of breaking the law.

Finding the sites offering the counterfeits is also an up-hill battle as it’s a highly labour-intensive process for an already over-extended police force.

So, with such convincing vaccine passport scams out there, how can you tell the real from the fakes?

• Government symbol – while digital vaccination passports differ from country to country and even state to state, many of the forged passports include the state or federal government logo. Compare the two to ensure they are the same.

• Holographics – Something that is much harder for forgers to recreate is the holographics that are often a part of a vaccination passport, particularly incorporated into the genuine logo. When tilted, the symbols seem 3D and appear to move – if a vaccination passport doesn’t have this when it’s supposed to, it is almost certainly fake

• Accurate dosage dates – depending on which vaccine was administered. There is a recommended length of time between each dose. Check the dates on the vaccination certificate to ensure they are genuine

• Team up with FraudWatch – have a dedicated and meticulous digital protection team behind you.

Fraudulent digital vaccination passports are clearly something that is here to stay and with the fake ones becoming more and more hard to spot, you need to be able to protect your business, your employees and your customers.

At FraudWatch, our analysts are working hard 24x7x365 to ensure the protection of our clients and their customers against digital threats. We use innovative proprietary technology to protect against phishing and malware attacks, brand abuse, fraudulent financial activity and much more. We also use logo and image recognition technology to proactively identify fraudulent activity. Team up with us today and we can work to protect your business from COVID-19 digital passport scams and you can do the work you do best.