China Cracks Down On Fake COVID-19 Vaccines, Arrests 70 People

A Chinese crackdown on fake COVID-19 vaccines has highlighted the worrying prospect of scamsters cashing in on the pandemic scare and the scramble for vaccination around the world. The fraudsters nabbed in China have sent out at least 600 dud doses to other countries.

Amid massive vaccination drives, several countries have reported related scams and issued warnings against fraudulent coronavirus tests and vaccines. U.S. and European authorities have warned against unauthorized treatments and vaccines.

Authorities in China arrested 70 suspects in 21 vaccine-related cases, Reuters reported, citing state-run Xinhua news agency. The cases include production and distribution of fake COVID-19 vaccines.

In one of the cases, a group of suspects manufactured nearly 58,000 counterfeit vaccine doses by using saline solution and made a profit of about $2.8 million from its illegal sale since August last year. The suspects include the ringleader identified as Kong by Chinese media.

Kong reportedly studied the packaging design of real vaccines before making the counterfeit ones. More than 600 of these dud doses were sent to Hong Kong last November, BBC reported. They were later sent abroad.

Fake vaccines were also sold in hospitals at a high price and some fraudsters even began their own inoculation drives, unscrupulously jabbing gullible people.

China, which has administered 40.52 million doses of vaccine to key groups as of Tuesday, is not the only country where fake vaccines have raised an alarm. European and U.S. government officials last month reported a rise in COVID-19 vaccine scams, saying fake vaccines could pose a risk to people's health.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning this month over fraudulent coronavirus tests, vaccines and treatments, saying it is working with retailers to remove dozens of misleading products from store shelves and online.

The European Union’s anti-fraud office, OLAF, on Monday warned member states against vaccine scammers. The office said it was aware of a number of reports of scammers offering to sell vaccines to defraud EU member states. EU's police agency Europol had issued a similar warning in December and highlighted the risk of COVID-19 vaccine-related scams.

Even in the U.K., a 92-year-old woman was tricked into paying £160 (about $216) for a fake COVID-19 vaccine in December. The man posed as an official of the National Health Service and told her she would be reimbursed by the NHS. It was not clear what the man injected the woman with or if he administered anything at all. She did not experience any adverse effects.