13 charged with paying ‘AntiVaxMomma’ for fake documents to avoid free vaccine: Manhattan prosecutors
Manhattan prosecutors have found 13 essential workers — including hospital, nursing home and school staff — who preferred to pay $200 for fake COVID-19 vaccine documents than get a free-of-charge jab in the arm.
The scam’s accused mastermind — Jasmine Clifford, 31 — was expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Manhattan Criminal Court on felony conspiracy charges for forging at least 250 fake vaccination cards and then selling them to her followers on Instagram.
Clifford had help from Nadayza Barkley, 27, who fraudulently entered the names of 10 of the scam’s customers into the state’s “Excelsior Pass” system, which provides vaccine documents to users’ cell phones, prosecutors say.
Barkley, of Bellport, L.I., had access to the state database through her job at a medical clinic in Patchogue.
Clifford, a Lyndhurst, N.J. resident who used the Instagram handle “@AntiVaxMomma,” accepted $200 payment for vaccine cards via CashApp and Zelle, said prosecutors. Clifford’s Instagram page was down on Tuesday.
Having Barkley enter the customers’ information in the Excelsior Pass database cost Clifford’s customers another $250, prosecutors said.
Clifford sold about 250 of the forged cards, prosecutors say.
The DA only charged the 13 essential workers with buying the cards. Each of the 13 was charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument and conspiracy. One of the 13 was also charged with offering a false instrument for filing, for paying the extra $250 to be entered in the Excelsior Pass database.
Manhattan DA Cy Vance said case-by-case prosecutions won’t be enough to deal with the public health issues raised by fake vaccine card scams.
“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 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.”
The Manhattan DA’s office has urged anyone aware of similar fake vaccine card scams to call the office’s Financial Frauds Bureau at 212-335-8900. Tips can be confidential.
