Australian police badges for sale on dark web

Australian police badges are being sold on the dark web, authorities revealed on Thursday.

The website, which has not been identified, is offering two "genuine" Tasmanian police badges for $1,500 each, reports Xinhua news agency.

The discovery of the badges for sale come days after the healthcare details of millions of Australians were found for sale on a similar website.

The listing of the badges were described as "Tasmania Police identification (ID) wallet and badge. Genuine. As photographed".

Potential buyers of the badges were asked by the vendor to provide the name, photo and desire rank they want to be placed on the ID card.

A police spokesperson told the media on Thursday that "the item on the website does appear to be a very similar likeness to the Tasmania Police badge".

"Anyone who suspects a person of impersonating a police officer should ask to see their warrant card which contains photographic identification," the spokesperson said.

While neither of the Tasmanian badges have been sold, reviews on the vendor's profile revealed they had previously sold a Victoria Police badge and ID wallet for $1,509 and an Australian Federal Police (AFP) ID card for $250.

"Good quality, going to order more," the buyer of the AFP card wrote as feedback.

--IANS

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