The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) has warned the public of potential criminal elements seeking to exploit the global community in relation to the COVID-19 and flu vaccines.<\/p>\n
With the pandemic having already triggered unprecedented opportunistic and predatory criminal behaviour, Interpol – in an orange notice on Monday – said the swindling is expected to be in relation to the falsification, theft and illegal advertising of COVID-19 and flu vaccines.<\/p>\n
This also includes examples of crimes where individuals have been advertising, selling and administering fake vaccines.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a number of COVID-19 vaccines come closer to approval and global distribution, ensuring the safety of the supply chain and identifying illicit websites selling fake products will be essential,\u201d said the organisation.<\/p>\n
Interpol said law enforcement and health regulatory bodies will need to heighten coordination, as this \u201cwill also play a vital role to ensure the safety of individuals and wellbeing of communities\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs governments are preparing to roll out vaccines, criminal organisations are planning to infiltrate or disrupt supply chains.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is essential that law enforcement is as prepared as possible for what will be an onslaught of all types of criminal activity linked to the COVID-19 vaccine, which is why Interpol has issued this global warning,\u201d said Interpol Secretary General, J\u00fcrgen Stock.<\/p>\n
Stock warned that criminal networks will also target unsuspecting members of the public via fake websites and false cures, which could pose a significant risk to their health, even their lives.<\/p>\n
As international travel gradually resumes, Stock said it is likely that testing for the virus will become of greater importance, resulting in a parallel production and distribution of unauthorised and falsified testing kits.<\/p>\n
With an increasing amount of COVID-19 related fraud, Interpol has also advised members of the public to take special care when online searching for medical equipment and medicines. <\/p>\n
In addition to the dangers of ordering potentially life-threatening products, an analysis by the organisation Cybercrime Unit reveals that of the 3 000 websites associated with online pharmacies suspected of selling illicit medicines and medical devices, around 1 700 contained cyber threats, especially phishing and spamming malware. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo avoid falling victim to online scams, it is important to be vigilant, be sceptical and be safe, as offers which appear too good to be true usually are. <\/p>\n
\u201cAlways check with your national health authorities or the World Health Organisation for the latest health advice in relation to COVID-19,\u201d said Interpol. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) has warned the public of potential criminal elements seeking to exploit the global community in relation to the COVID-19 and flu vaccines. With the pandemic having already triggered unprecedented opportunistic and predatory criminal behaviour, Interpol – in an orange notice on Monday – said the swindling is expected to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-174464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}