The Philippine National Police (PNP) chief PGen. Guillermo Eleazar says the illegal sale of vaccines and vaccine slots may be an online scam or politically motivated.
Eleazar said on Tuesday (May 25) that monitoring that was done by the Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) on all online platforms did not result in further finding public posts offering the sale of vaccines or vaccination slots.
The ACG found out that the illegal sale of vaccines is being perpetrated via private communication or direct messages so as to avoid getting the attention of law enforcement agencies.
“Lumalabas sa imbestigasyon ng ACG na iyong sinasabi natin na nagbebenta ay direktang kumokontak sa pamamagitan ng private messages sa kanyang mga balak pagbentahan. Malamang para umiwas na mapansin ng ating law enforcement agencies kung gawing public ang post niya,” he said.
Eleazar said that the ACG investigation has found the possibility that the scheme was another form of online scam, as these persons who were offered such vaccines have legitimate online businesses.
He added, “We cannot also discount the possibility that this is politically motivated, probably employed to discredit the reputation of the LGU involved.”
The city governments of San Juan and Mandaluyong have recently taken necessary actions against the alleged illegal sale of COVID-19 vaccine doses within these local government units. – (PNP) / CF-rir