While anti-health pass demonstrations are increasing in France and the Institutional Council is examining a law intended to expand the health pass, Google searches having as keywords "
false covid certificate
", "
false
health
pass
»Or«
fake vaccine
»are more and more numerous.
Unsurprisingly, this high demand has given rise to a whole new kind of traffickers: health pass fraudsters.
Read also: Covid-19: diving into the world of vaccination fraud
While this highly lucrative traffic has had time to take hold on social networks, investigators are now also aware of the schemes put in place to circumvent the measures.
The first convictions fell, but that did not prevent health pass fraudsters from increasing in number.
Last week, a contract worker from Villepinte, Seine-Saint-Denis, was sentenced to one year in prison for trafficking false vaccination certificates.
Despite this, others did not hesitate to take action, providing their loved ones with fake QR codes.
Ongoing investigations
In Agen, two hospital employees, one nurse and the other administrative secretary, were referred Wednesday, August 4 for having transmitted to their families false health passes and false PCR tests, revealed
La Dépêche
. Some beneficiaries of these fakes have also been found by investigators, specifies the regional daily. Two of them admitted the facts and will be the subject of an appearance on preliminary admission of guilt. The nurse and the secretary, who have not denied the facts, will appear in court on September 28.
On the Bordeaux side, two young women aged 18 and 20 were arrested and then placed in police custody by the departmental security of Gironde (DDSP33), Monday, August 2.
These two students were temporary workers in the large vaccination center of Bordeaux-Lac.
Recruited by Bordeaux Métropole, they helped with the reception of the public and managed the administrative part in parallel with the vaccinations.
The two young women published false certificates of vaccination in paper and digital format.
It was colleagues, surprised to see them drafting certificates when they had no one in front of them, who sounded the alarm.
Read also: Is it legal to condition access to public places to the health pass?
“
During searches of their homes, we found false certificates and cash,
”
Céline Plumail, divisional commissioner and head of the DDSP33
, told
Figaro
. False certificates were sold for between 50 and 300 euros per unit. The 20-year-old would have passed around fifteen certificates in all. The sum of 500 euros was found at her home and she would have previously earned around 1000 euros for the sale of ten certificates, details Céline Plumail. His 18-year-old accomplice would have spent “only” two, including one for one of his relatives. Both admitted the facts and were referred to the prosecution on Wednesday August 4: they are being prosecuted for "
passive corruption
" and "
false in an administrative document by a person entrusted with a public service mission
”.
Placed under judicial control and prohibited from exercising a profession related to vaccination, they will be judged on January 14 before the criminal court, specifies France Bleu.
The prosecution also plans to prosecute the beneficiaries, who will be summoned by the police, for "use of forgery".
The offense of forgery or use of forgery is punished by 3 years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.
If the forgery is a document usually issued by an administration, the penalties are 5 years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros, details the website of the Ministry of the Interior.
Previous arrests
If the arrests are recent, these four criminals operating in Bordeaux and Agen were far from the first to distribute false passes. In Paris, the nurse at Sainte-Anne hospital who simulated vaccinations and issued fraudulent QR codes was fired by her main employer after her temporary contract with the Groupement Hospitalier Universitaire (GHU) in Paris was dismissed. been broken, we are told. While a report to the public prosecutor of Paris had been sent and the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Île-de-France had been seized, an investigation was also opened,
the GHU
announced in
Le Figaro
. "
We are relieved to learn that an investigation has been opened, as all the staff were very shocked.
Today, the instruction is ongoing,
”responded the hospital group.
Also in Grenoble, a young woman of 30 was arrested in a vaccination center on July 21.
Indicted and placed under judicial supervision, she is now being prosecuted for "producing false administrative documents by a person charged with a public service mission, possession and supply of false ones" and faces seven years' imprisonment and 100,000 euros. 'fine.
Finally, on July 14, in Lyon as well as in Yvelines and Val-de-Marne, six people suspected of "dealing" with false vaccination certificates on social networks were arrested by the cybercrime brigade,
Le Monde
had reported
. The six fraudsters were indicted, and two of them were remanded in custody.
