Criminals are selling the blood of supposedly recovered coronavirus patients on the dark web — touting it as a possible cure for the deadly illness, according to a report Thursday.
To cash in on the pandemic, the hucksters are hawking the blood as a “passive vaccination,” saying it’s full of potentially life-saving antibodies, researchers with the Australia National University told Australia’s public broadcaster ABC News.
“The word I think is passive vaccination, where the blood plasma of a recovered COVID-19 patient is harvested for the antibodies and that is then used to inject into someone who may be at risk of COVID-19,” lead researcher Rod Broadhurst told the outlet.
He added, “The idea of any kind of black market is that there will be some people who may be prepared to be jumping ahead of the queue, if you like, and taking a punt on a vaccine that’s undergoing trial.”
Researchers spent a day scouring the dark web and found hundreds of unregulated coronavirus products ranging from anti-malaria drugs to personal protective equipment.
One “cure” was being offered for a price of just under $16,500, the researchers said.
Of the 20 dark web sites they investigated, just three accounted for roughly 90 percent of the coronavirus products for sale. Some of the items are thought to be stolen from factories.
On the dark web, encryption methods are used to hide the identities of buyers and sellers from the police.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost...ed-coronavirus-patients-sold-on-dark-web/amp/
To cash in on the pandemic, the hucksters are hawking the blood as a “passive vaccination,” saying it’s full of potentially life-saving antibodies, researchers with the Australia National University told Australia’s public broadcaster ABC News.
“The word I think is passive vaccination, where the blood plasma of a recovered COVID-19 patient is harvested for the antibodies and that is then used to inject into someone who may be at risk of COVID-19,” lead researcher Rod Broadhurst told the outlet.
He added, “The idea of any kind of black market is that there will be some people who may be prepared to be jumping ahead of the queue, if you like, and taking a punt on a vaccine that’s undergoing trial.”
Researchers spent a day scouring the dark web and found hundreds of unregulated coronavirus products ranging from anti-malaria drugs to personal protective equipment.
One “cure” was being offered for a price of just under $16,500, the researchers said.
Of the 20 dark web sites they investigated, just three accounted for roughly 90 percent of the coronavirus products for sale. Some of the items are thought to be stolen from factories.
On the dark web, encryption methods are used to hide the identities of buyers and sellers from the police.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost...ed-coronavirus-patients-sold-on-dark-web/amp/
