A man suspected of being involved in selling forged COVID-19 vaccine certificates, or yellow cards, was arrested on Sunday by police in New Taipei City.
Police said they had received a tip-off that a person was allegedly selling fake COVID-19 vaccination certificates and stickers that can be affixed to National Health Insurance cards as proof of vaccination.
The man had allegedly placed an advertisement in the online marketplace Shopee.
Photo: Chang Tsung-chiu, Taipei Times
The advertisement claimed that buyers could simply fill out their name and identification number on the yellow cards themselves, and that with a matte protective cover, it would be difficult to distinguish the fake cards from the real ones.
The city’s criminal investigation division launched an investigation and found that the vaccination record specified on the certificate posted on the Web site was that of the seller. Based on that information, police targeted a 27-year-old man, surnamed Cheng (鄭), who lives in New Taipei City’s Banqiao District (板橋).
In collaboration with the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office, police arrested the man at his residence on Sunday night.
Police said that the unemployed Cheng floated the idea of reaping illegal gains by selling fake vaccine certificates after the government earlier this month tightened COVID-19 prevention regulations, requiring people considered to be at greater risk of contracting the virus to show proof of having had three vaccine shots.
The regulations also require people who visit recreational venues offering escort services and gym patrons to have received three vaccine doses.
The case has been referred to prosecutors, and Cheng is facing charges of forgery and fraud.
Meanwhile, police reminded people not to buy or use fake vaccination certificates, warning that they could face a fine of up to NT$15,000 for contravening the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法).
Shopee in a statement yesterday said that the ad had been removed from its Web site and it had provided relevant data to the police.
It also promised to continue monitoring falsified products to help the government’s disease prevention efforts.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS