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Rome (CNN)

A 50-year-old man tried to pass off a silicone arm as his own at a Covid-19 vaccination clinic in northern Italy, in an attempt to get a vaccine certificate without actually getting inoculated.

The deception was spotted by a nurse, Filippa Bua, as she was about to administer the vaccine in Biella, Piedmont on Thursday. Bua told CNN she noticed something odd about the arm.

"The color of the skin was anomalous, much lighter compared to the hands or the face of the patient," she said.

After inspecting the area, she realized that the arm was fake, made of silicone.

"I first felt sorry for the man, thinking that he had a prosthesis and wondering if I had somehow forced him to give me the wrong arm," Bua said. "But then he admitted he was wearing the fake arm on purpose to avoid getting the vaccine!"