Italy cracks down fake European Union digital COVID-19 certificates schemes.

Police have seized and taken control of 10 online accounts offering schemes to sell fake COVID-19 passes to the public.

Police have seized and taken control of 10 online accounts offering schemes to sell fake COVID-19 passes to the public.The European Union's digital COVID-19 certificate enables citizens to travel across the block without any restrictions. Since the launch of the green pass, a wide range of online schemes popped up to sell counterfeited EU Digital COVID-19 certificates. They charged anywhere between €110 to €130, and the sellers were required to pay in cryptocurrency.

The Italian police launched an investigation and uncovered the fake schemes using artificial intelligence tools. The police said that 10 channels on messaging service app Telegram linked to anonymous accounts on the dark web were seized. It revealed that around 25,000 people were registered, and hundreds, including buyers from outside the EU were trying to contact the sellers.

The authorities said the high-profile operations set up by fraudsters attempted to scam people and certificates included false identification data, including the QR code and the batch number of vaccines.