Huge scandal over digital vaccination cards: the police raided a Munich pharmacy on Friday and arrested four people.
Munich - The Bavarian Central Office for Combating Fraud and Corruption in the Health Care System (ZKG) and the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office are entrusted with the investigation.
Munich: Vaccination fraud gang sells hundreds of fake QR codes
You came across the Munich * pharmacy back in August. At that time, an initially unknown person on the Internet was said to have become suspicious on a German-language cybercrime forum: According to the investigations, the person had offered unauthorized QR codes for the digital corona vaccination card for sale using a pseudonym. The price for this: most recently 350 euros. However, no vaccination has actually taken place or has been proven. "The IT infrastructure of the Munich pharmacy is said to have been used for this through unauthorized online access," explains Matthias Held, senior public prosecutor at the ZKG investigation group. In October 2021 alone, over 500 vaccination certificates are said to have been issued.
The Nuremberg District Court therefore issued a search warrant, which has now been carried out in Munich.
During the raid, the investigators quickly discovered that a false digital vaccination card issued in this way was already in circulation in other EU countries.
Munich: Fraud with forged vaccination passports, investigating judge issues an arrest warrant
The investigation now focuses on a total of four suspects. "An application for the issuance of an arrest warrant is being made against two suspects and they have already been brought before the investigating judge at the Munich District Court to examine the question of detention," says Chief Public Prosecutor Held. The investigating judge has issued arrest warrants because of the risk of escape and blackout. The pharmacy employee is considered the main suspect. You and an alleged accomplice are now in custody. In addition to them, two other people were arrested. The owner of the pharmacy is not suspected, emphasizes Held.
A number of documents, including electronic ones, were found during the search. "At the first inspection, these led to the suspicion that an employee with three other people could have issued the wrong digital corona vaccination cards," explains the chief public prosecutor. “For this reason, private apartments were also searched afterwards. In addition, cryptocurrencies and cash totaling almost 100,000 euros were secured. ”Cybercrime specialists from the Federal Criminal Police Office who had investigated on the Darknet had become aware of the incident. But that should hardly solve the problem.
Because Bavaria's police * are registering more and more vaccination cards with fake Corona certificates.
"We assume that more and more forged vaccination cards are in circulation," says Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU).
Regardless of the gang of counterfeiters, the Bavarian police registered 440 cases related to the forgery of vaccination passports, vaccination certificates or vaccine labels.
At the beginning of September there were 110 cases.
A. THIEME, N. HOFFMANN * tz.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
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