Criminal organizations and individuals contacted authorities in dozens of countries and offered vaccines against coronavirus. Scammers wanted to conclude contracts for millions of dollars.
The Wall Street Journal reports, citing documents and sources in its possession.
In particular, scammers contacted officials in the Netherlands, Latvia, France, Israel, the Czech Republic, Austria and other countries.
They offered vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca. In a number of cases, it got to the point of discussing the details of the deliveries.
The administration of the president of Brazil noted that negotiations with the scammers were indeed conducted, but the vaccine was not bought.
The French authorities said that Paris receives vaccines through the European Commission, it does not negotiate directly with distributors.
The publication notes that the US Department of Homeland Security has identified 50 to 75 fraudsters, companies and brokers who are looking for potential victims.
