Pittsburgh Border Protection officers seize nearly 70 counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards

PITTSBURGH — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized the second of two shipments of counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards in Pittsburgh on September 7.

The two shipments contained a combined 70 fake COVID vaccination cards.

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CBP officers seized the first parcel of 20 cards on August 24 after they determined that the cards presented were of low quality and that they were being imported by someone who didn’t work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or was a certified medical person.

CBP officers then placed a hold on a second shipment destined to the same Beaver County, Pa., person. That parcel of 50 fake COVID cards arrived on September 7.

Both shipments were shipped from China.

CBP officers in Chicago, Memphis and Anchorage, Alaska, have seized more than 6,000 counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards.

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“Coronavirus and its variants continues to pose a serious health and safety threat to American citizens, and so do unscrupulous vendors who peddle counterfeit COVID vaccination cards,” said William Fitting, CBP’s port director in Pittsburgh. “Customs and Border Protection will continue to intercept counterfeit goods, such as these fake vaccine cards, that threaten our nation, our people and our economy.”

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