Blood of coronavirus survivors is being sold on the dark web as a ‘makeshift vaccine’ as conmen flog ‘cures’ for £13k
BLOOD claimed to be from recovered coronavirus victims is being sold on the dark web as a makeshift vaccine, it is claimed.
Researchers have said the blood is just one of hundreds of "products" for sale by criminals trying to exploit the pandemic.
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In a report by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), the team made the shocking discoveries in just one day of trawling the dark web.
The dark web is a layer of the internet that can only be accessed through certain browsers and is not indexed by search engines, often used by criminals to set up online marketplaces for illegal items.
Fake coronavirus cures and vaccines are being flogged for up to £13,000 each, along with large amounts of personal protective equipment (PPE) - including N95 masks, surgical gloves and protective suits.
Drugs designed for other diseases are also being sold with false claims that they can fight the coronavirus, such as anti-malria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine.
Mr Broadhurst said: "The word I think is passive vaccination, where the blood plasma of a recovered Covid-19 patient is harvested for the antibodies and that is then used to inject into someone who may be at risk of Covid-19."
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Out of the 645 vendors found selling fake products by AIC, 394 were in the United States, with 39 in the EU, 17 in Britain and three in China and Australia - with other nations making up the rest of the list.
Advertisements for the dodgy deals include messages claiming "coronavirus vaccine overnight delivery", "Covid-19 antidote is here from China", and "coronavirus vaccine for fast shipping".
In another study by analysts Ghost Data, more than 10,000 Instagram accounts - many linked to China - were found selling Covid-19 products.
Some of the accounts had been selling fashion items like sports shoes before suddenly switching to PPE and health supplies to cash in.
Scientists believe a vaccine still may be up to a year away, so anyone touting to be selling one online is a likely to be a fraudster.
Mr Broadhurst said: "For some people out there this pandemic is a criminal opportunity where they can cash in on fear and shortages.
"We think we will see more of that and we need some basic monitoring to start shutting it down.
"We found unsafe vaccines, repurposed antivirals - which are in very short supply - and quite a lot of bulk PPE on the dark web."
"The biosecurity hazardous products are the most dangerous because some are marketed as if they have been leaked from real trials.
"But, they could be fake and we don't know what they are made from."
Dr Rick Brown, deputy director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, said the sale of such items “posed a real risk” to people's health.
He called governments to quickly camp down on the underground trade.
A previous investigation by The Sun Online found more than 16,000 internet-domain names related to coronavirus have been set up with the intention of conning unsuspecting members of the public.
In the US, scammers are setting up to try and make a buck off the pandemic.
In one instance, a "testing site" outside a church, with workers dressed head to toe in hazmat gear, claimed they could return results within 24 hours.
Hoaxes are also circulating on email and message services like WhatsApp, attempting to use the crisis in a bid to steal people's data.
And scammers buying and selling bulk lots of PPE could be depriving health services of the supplies which they desperately need.
British scientists are racing towards a coronavirus vaccine, beginning human testing last week as it is feared the world will not return to normal until one is developed.
