Getting vaccine mandate access is going to be a snap

 

 Gothamist

 Pictures of cats, Mickey Mouse, even a takeout menu from a BBQ restaurant: Users of New York City’s COVID SAFE app have discovered they can upload just about any photo into the new vaccine verification software.

Though the app only debuted this week, its vulnerabilities have come under scrutiny as the city announced a new policy to require proof of at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine for entry to indoor dining, gyms and entertainment performances.

“The New York City app is nothing more than a glorified photo storage app,” said Brian Linder of cybersecurity research company Check Point. He added, “When someone shows a picture of a card in this app, it's believed that it's real, but there's absolutely no verification of it whatsoever.”

City officials said it’s up to the staff at restaurants, gyms and event spaces to verify the authenticity of the pictures in the app--no different than bouncers checking drivers’ licenses at bars.

“The NYC COVID Safe App was designed with privacy at the top of mind, and allows someone to digitally store their CDC card and identification,” Laura Feyer, spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said in an emailed statement. “Someone checking vaccination cards at the door to a restaurant or venue would see that those examples are not proper vaccine cards and act accordingly.”

 But the COVID SAFE app creates an opening for a black market based on fake vaccine cards. While a bill criminalizing the falsification of vaccine records under state law is now awaiting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature, the opportunity for fraud is rampant on many levels.

 

Fish smuggler sent to jail

From the Daily News:

A Brooklyn judge struck a blow for endangered fish the world over, sentencing a Queens man Wednesday to one year in jail for smuggling the bony-tongued Arowana in his suitcase.

The rare fish is sold on the black market in Chinatown and Asian neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens for up to $8,000 apiece because of its supposed power to bring good luck.

But Chee Chaw has had nothing but bad luck since his suitcase was misplaced during a transfer from Hong Kong, and the fishy contraband was discovered after the bag arrived on a later flight.

Nine of the 16 fish, packed in water-filled plastic bags, died during the journey. Four more fish from a previous smuggling mission were recovered in his Elmhurst apartment.

"He's contributing to the demise of this fish by importing them into the United States," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiana Demas.

The prosecutor said Chaw had smuggled fish at on at least three occasions since 2004. A previous arrest was disposed of with an $850 fine.

Black market cigarettes costing us a bundle

From the NY Post:

The underground tobacco market is spreading like a fast-growing cancer in the wake of tax hikes that make New York cigarettes the most expensive in the nation -- and it's costing the state tens of millions a month in lost tax revenue, a Post analysis has found.

Illegal cigarettes are pouring into neighborhood bodegas by the truckload from neighboring Indian reservations, lower-tax states in the South and even as far away as China, authorities say.

Government data show that New York state is being smoked out of as much as $20 million a month from all these illegal cigarette purchases -- an estimated 7.3 million packs a month sold off the state tax radar.

Black market thriving in Chinatown

From the NY Post:

Pickled cobra that "cures" kidney problems. Chinese Viagra made with deer penis. Balms filled with powdered tiger bone. Bushels of bushmeat.

These are just a few of the exotic and unlawful imports that pour into New York City daily.

And when the black-market booty is not seized by federal agents at airports, they can be found on the shelves of China town apothecaries, Bronx botanicas or swap meets in ethnic neighborhoods throughout the city.

"We had 10 million passengers come into JFK last year, and I have 12 inspectors," said Bob Onda, who supervises US Fish and Wildlife Service inspectors at JFK and La Guardia airports.

A Post interpreter was told recently in Chinatown that he could buy bear gall bladder to clean his blood, and deer penis to improve his sexual prowess.

Inspectors say many strange objects are used in so-called traditional Chinese medicines -- thought to cure everything from a toothache to cancer.

Onda said the Chinese use "medicine mules" like other cultures use "drug mules" -- smuggling into the country thousands of hidden pills containing ground-up tiger and leopard bone.

"If they get it by us they mule it into Chinatown," he said.