Woman charged with selling fake vaccine cards on ‘AntiVaxMomma’ IG account
Among the arrested clients of Jasmine Clifford were some frontline workers and workers in hospital settings or nursing homes.
A woman who went by the Instagram username @AntiVaxMomma has been charged with selling forged COVID-19 vaccine cards.
Jasmine Clifford, 31, was among 15 people charged with fraud by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Clifford allegedly sold 250 cards on Instagram. Prosecutors allege she worked with 27-year-old Nadayza Barkley to fraudulently enter at least 10 people into the New York State Immunization Information System database.
Among many of her clients were several frontline and essential workers, several of whom worked in hospital settings or nursing homes.
Clifford reportedly openly advertised her illegal business, charging her customers $200 for the fake vaccine cards and accepting electronic payments. According to a report from ABC 7, authorities say she would work with Barkley to add clients to the NYSIIS database for an additional $250.
She now has been charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument, offering a false instrument for filing and fifth-degree conspiracy. Barkley faces offering a false instrument for filing and fifth-degree conspiracy.
“We will continue to safeguard public health in New York with proactive investigations like these, but the stakes are too high to tackle fake vaccination cards with whack-a-mole prosecutions,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance. “We need companies like Facebook to take action to prevent the fraud happening on their platforms. Making, selling and purchasing forged vaccination cards are serious crimes with serious public safety consequences. This investigation is ongoing. If you are aware of anyone selling fake vaccination cards, please call my Office’s Financial Frauds Bureau at (212) 335-8900.”
The 13 people who were customers of Clifford and Barkley have also been charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument. One person has also been charged with offering a false instrument for filing for paying to be entered in the NYSIIS database.
A report last month from Associated Press notes that colleges across the country have growing concerns that students will be seeking to skirt vaccine mandates.
A Reddit user commented on a thread about falsifying COVID-19 vaccination cards, saying, in part, “I need one, too, for college. I refuse to be a guinea pig.”
On Twitter, a user with more than 70,000 followers tweeted, “My daughter bought 2 fake ID’s online for $50 while in college. Shipped from China. Anyone have the link for vaccine cards?”
Some schools, including the University of Michigan, have confirmed systems to protect employee and student vaccination records. Still, one professor, Benjamin Mason Meier, noted America’s current paper vaccination record process is antiquated, saying, “The United States, unlike most countries which have electronic systems in place, is basing its vaccination on a flimsy paper card.”
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