With the coronavirus pandemic running rampant around the world, vendors on the darknet are looking to exploit the global crisis, offering vials of vaccines at exorbitant prices.
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The darknet has seen a sharp increase in vaccine ads, according to a report published by researchers at Check Point Software Technologies's Threat Intelligence Team, Wednesday. According to the report, ads for vaccines increased 400% over the last month, as many European and American government agencies approved the use of the vaccines.
The American-Israeli firm also noted a significant price increase as vaccines received approval and demand spiked, with doses that were offered at anywhere from $250-$300 in early December now being sold for $500 and even $1000 over the last week.
Prior to the global distribution of these approved vaccines, darknet advertisements offered buyers unbranded Chinese vaccines. Now, however, they either purport to sell branded vaccines or withhold that information from the buyer.
While many sellers are offering single vials of vaccine, some vendors have begun to sell 10,000 vials of a vaccine, enough to inoculate 5,000 people.
Check Point researchers also checked to see if the vendors could be trusted with a transaction. They purchased one dose of a Chinese vaccine on the darknet for $750, communicating with one seller over the Telegram instant messaging platform and paying in Bitcoin cryptocurrency, but never received the shipment and later learned the seller's account had been deleted.
"As soon as the vaccines were about to receive approval, we saw the beginning of ads on the darknet for 'vaccines available for sale," Oded Vanunu, head of products vulnerability research at Check Point Software Technologies, said.
"Today, the scope of the ads has increased significantly as the demand around the world for vaccines rose considerably as well. As with any other field of supply and demand, there are those trying to take advantage of the situation by creating a black market of their own for personal gain," he explained.
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