Utah fraudster convicted for selling 120,000 bogus COVID-19 vaccination record cards

Utah's U.S. District Court. Photo: Utah District Court

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The lead defendant in a scheme that manufactured, sold, and distributed 120,000 counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination record cards was sentenced for his role in the crime and will spend a year in jail.

Nicholas Frank Sciotto, 34, of Salt Lake City, was sentenced by the U.S. District Court to 12 months’ imprisonment, three years supervised release, and ordered by the court to pay a $40,000 fine after he admitted in July 2024 that he conspired to defraud the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by selling and distributing counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination record cards. In turn, Sciotto obtained more than around $400,000 in profits.

According to court documents and statements made at Sciotto’s sentencing hearing, between March 2021 and September 2021, Sciotto promoted, manufactured, sold, and distributed illegal and counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination record cards across the country. He also sold the COVID-19 vaccination record cards wholesale to several coconspirators, including Kyle Blake Burbage, 33, of Goose Creek, South Carolina. Together, the coconspirators enabled numerous people to use fake vaccination record cards to masquerade as being vaccinated so they could evade public health and safety protocols across the nation. Sciotto engaged in this scheme–without regard for any public health consequences or risks that he exposed individuals to during the pandemic, without their knowledge or consent, and he undermined the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccination program and other governmental health and safety regulations and protocols at a significant profit.

On Facebook, Sciotto sold each card for $10, with a minimum of 10 cards per order plus $5 for shipping, and directed buyers to a mobile payment service to complete the transaction. In furtherance of the crime, Sciotto made a fake badge and identified himself as a volunteer with a major COVID-19 testing company in Utah to trick a print shop worker into believing Sciotto worked for a hospital and was authorized to print out thousands of copies of COVID-19 vaccination record cards.

United States Attorney Trina A. Higgins for the District of Utah made the announcement.

The case was investigated jointly by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office.