Check Point Research (CPR) warns of the exponential growth of the black market for fake vaccination certificates. The number of advertisers and subscribers increased, multiplying 10 and 12 times, respectively. New sales techniques that use robots to instantly generate testimonials have been identified. In Portugal, the price for this type of document is about 150 euros.

The black market for fake vaccination certificates has now expanded to 29 countries. Portugal is one of the 9 countries that debuted on this list, along with Austria, Brazil, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates.

As of August 10, 2021, Check Point Research has identified nearly 1,000 advertisers on Telegram. Currently, there are more than 10,000 users who provide fake vaccination certificates.

Telegram is one of the main platforms where these illicit transactions take place. Here, sellers are organized into groups with a certain number of subscribers. Recently, a rapid acceleration in the number of subscribers and followers has been identified, with some groups reaching 300,000 members – an unprecedented number so far. The significant rise, according to Check Point Research, is due to the mandatory vaccination plan announced by the US administration last week