Several Florida counties have turned to Eventbrite, a service better known for reserving spaces for conferences, sporting events and a series of in-person gatherings to help distribute vaccines to residents. After hearing about such an effort in Sarasota County, Bourbonniere searched and found similar filings for vaccines in her home county on Eventbrite. But there was a problem: her county wasn’t really one of the people who used the platform for registrations.
“I found the Sarasota site and used the location button to go to events near me,” said Bourbonniere, who told CNN Business that she came across numerous offerings in Clearwater, Florida, a town in Pinellas County. She then tweeted to the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County to ask why there were “74 Eventbrite entries for Covid vaccine” in Clearwater, many of which were sold out, despite conflicting information on the county website.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office told CNN Business that it is currently looking into the fraudulent use of Eventbrite for COVID vaccinations in Pinellas County, adding that the pages appear to have been removed.
In a statement to CNN Business, an Eventbrite spokesperson said, “We are actively exploring how our platform can best support efforts to increase access to vaccines. We are aware of unofficial mentions of vaccine events on Eventbrite. We believe these events were created in error and have removed them from our site. We are constantly monitoring and taking appropriate action. “
When asked why Eventbrite believed the events were falsely created and how much it had been removed from the site, the spokesperson declined to comment outside of the statement.
But the patchwork approach to vaccine distribution in Florida appears to have created an opportunity for bad actors to scam residents with fraudulent health departments, both in locations that use Eventbrite for vaccine distribution and in areas that aren’t. It is unclear who is behind the lists and what the motives are. But at the very least, it just adds the possibility for more misinformation and confusion about the vaccines and their distribution.
The Florida Governor’s Office and the Florida Department of Health have not responded to CNN Business’s requests for comment.
Like other online platforms, Eventbrite has long faced bad actors trying to trick users. In 2018, when Eventbrite prepared to go public, the company warned in its IPO paperwork that “we have experienced fraudulent activity on our platform in the past, including fake events where someone sells tickets to an event but does not intend to open a event or fulfill the ticket. ”
At least three of the counties that use Eventbrite for vaccine distribution – Pasco, Collier, and Sarasota – have recently acknowledged scams on the platform.
According to Chase Daniels, executive director at Pasco Sheriff’s Office, it is “dealing with about a dozen complaints sent to us by the Department of Health – Pasco County about fake pages providing fake vouchers to individuals,” while stressing that there was no exchange. was made of money. “The investigation into those fake vouchers has not yet been completed,” says Daniels.
Aside from concerns about fraudulent listings, some Florida residents, including older residents who may be less tech-savvy, now have to navigate the digital ticketing platform in hopes of getting their hands on one of the few vaccination spots available.
After Khalid El Khatib’s 77-year-old father was unable to arrange a vaccination appointment through Eventbrite in Sarasota, it became a family affair. El Khatib told CNN Business that he and his two sisters signed up for notifications on Eventbrite in the hopes that the four of them could score an appointment when the next wave of distribution began.
El Khatib likened it to how you could try to get tickets to “a popular concert,” except there’s a lot more at stake.
“The only way I can get information is by being an educated, young and relatively connected New Yorker,” said El Khatib, speaking broadly about the coronavirus security precautions. “I think it talks about the inequality that is surfacing at every stage of this pandemic.”
Bourbonniere, a retired doctoral-level nurse specializing in geriatrics, described herself and her 68-year-old husband, a retired engineer with a chronic health condition, as quite tech-savvy. But within the 65+ community where she lives, Bourbonniere said there are mixed reports on how to register for the vaccine, which may be confusing for residents who are both more vulnerable to Covid and more vulnerable to misinformation about it.
“That worries me,” she said.