Man Charged With Selling Hundreds Of Fake Vax Cards

The Washington Post reports:

A 23-year-old Maryland man has been charged with purchasing and distributing fake coronavirus vaccine cards to enrich himself, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court Friday. The man, Amar Salim Shabazz, was allegedly not shy about his scheme, either.

“I SELL PROOF OF VACCINATION CARDS,” he commented under an Instagram post about bars and restaurants requiring guests to show proof of vaccination cards, the criminal complaint said. In his private messages on the app, prosecutors alleged, he told another individual, “I’m gonna be rich.”

Instead of wealth, Shabazz is now facing up to 20 years behind bars on charges of mail fraud and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors accused him of purchasing over 600 fake coronavirus vaccine cards, advertising them on several social media platforms and distributing them through the U.S. mail.

The New York Daily News reports:

A 23-year-old man released from prison in April after doing time for possessing child pornography may have added another dubious achievement to his sick résumé. Shabazz allegedly had procured 600 cards since June and was selling them for up to $75 each through the mail.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials seized more than 500 cards being shipped to the suspect’s home in September. Noticing something was awry, Shabazz went online and punched in the search words, “customs inspection packages VACCINATION cards.”

Customs agents replaced the cards with masks and sent the package to Shabazz, who then griped in an Instagram video that he’d been shipped the wrong items. “Look yo,” he said. “I got masks yo.”

He also googled “fake vaccinated cards penalties.”

A man bragged he was “gonna be rich” off fake coronavirus vaccine cards, prosecutors say. Then he got charged. https://t.co/NxkG6ttEoe

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 4, 2021