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Law360 (February 12, 2021, 5:04 PM EST) -- Three Baltimore-area men orchestrated a scheme to trick consumers into believing they could buy COVID-19 vaccine from a website imitating that of biotech company and vaccine manufacturer Moderna Inc., Maryland federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Olakitan Oluwalade, his cousin Odunayo Baba Oluwalade and Kelly Lamont Williams, all in their early to mid-20s, created a copycat Moderna website that featured the text "YOU MAY BE ABLE TO BUY A COVID-19 VACCINE AHEAD OF TIME" and a link to "Contact us," according to an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint.
The three were arrested Thursday and charged with wire fraud after being sniffed out by U.S. Department of Homeland Security special agents, the government said.
According to the affidavit, the alleged co-conspirators used a digital tool to copy Moderna's real website, modernatx.com, and make their fake website, modernatx.shop, visually similar.
In mid-January, an undercover HSI agent contacted the alleged fraudsters through a number listed on the fake site that was linked to a WhatsApp account. The defendants responded and requested the agent's email address, and the parties then participated in an email exchange, prosecutors said.
The defendants later sent an invoice to the agent for 200 doses of what was purportedly the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, totaling $6,000 at $30 per dose. The terms were presented as 50% payment up front and 50% upon delivery, according to the affidavit. The men instructed the agent to send the payment to a Navy Federal Credit Union bank account belonging to Williams, the government said.
Law enforcement seized the fake website domain Jan. 14, and the following day executed search warrants at the defendants' respective homes. Investigators uncovered a trove of communications between the three men referring to the scheme that dated back to November, according to the affidavit.
"My office and the entire law enforcement community are committed to bringing to justice fraudsters who are preying on citizens during this unprecedented public health crisis," Maryland U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur said in a statement Thursday. "We will also continue our outreach efforts to make the public aware of scams and frauds."
Counsel information for the defendants was not immediately available Friday.
The government is represented by Aaron Simcha Jon Zelinsky of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.
The cases are U.S. v. Olakitan Oluwalade, U.S. v. Odunayo Baba Oluwalade and U.S. v. Kelly Lamont Williams, case numbers 1:21-mj-00346, 1:21-mj-00347 and 1:21-mj-00348, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
--Editing by Stephen Berg.
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