We met the manager of driving school centers in Brussels, whose name was usurped to sell via social networks, in a perfectly illegal way, certificates related to obtaining a driving license.
“An incredible phenomenon is happening.”, writes Mimoun, the manager of Horizon driving schools, via the orange button Alert us. The manager’s information is indeed quite striking: “false documents and certificates [d’auto-école] are sold on social networks, these allow the obtaining of provisional driving licenses fraudulently.” He discovered some impersonating his driving school:
Screenshot of pricing and documents sold by fraudsters
A widespread fraud
The facts denounced by Mimoun are well known to players in the sector. “It’s mainly in Brussels”, explains Hugues Cherpion, the president of the Wallonia-Brussels committee of Federdrive (Federation of driving schools and approved training centers). He teaches us that the problem does not only extend to social networks but to certain very real driving school centers. “People are going to get a center manager’s license in the Netherlands, where it’s much easier to get, then come to Belgium. They then offer much lower prices because they use their monitors on the black or they sell the documents outright.”
Regarding the problem of false documents purchased, customers can go to the municipality to request a provisional permit. They can also go to examination centers to take examinations to which they were not entitled (take the example of a fraudster who failed his theoretical examination, fraudulently obtains a document which says that he passed, he comes to the center to take the practical exam). “At the centers, false documents are quickly spotted but not at the municipality“, reports Mimoun. “The chief examiner in the centers is used to seeing real documents so he quickly spots when it’s a fake. At the municipality, the employees are less accustomed or check perhaps a little less so it goes more easily. Only the municipality of Uccle calls us sometimes when they have a doubt to check a document.”
An example of fake
lives in danger
The consequences for road safety are direct: people who are not authorized to drive because they are not fit to do so wander on our roads. “Again last week, I was called to authenticate a document”, says Mimoun. “The document was a forgery. The person obtained a provisional permit from the municipality in November and he only got caught when he came to take his practical exam. This fraudster has therefore been in violation for four months and he is not the only one.
“Since the Covid crisis, we have increasingly [de fraudeurs]”, deplores the manager of Horizon driving schools. “Between 3 and 4 per month. Not to mention those who don’t get tricked.”
Fraudsters don’t just sell driving school documents. They have a very diverse offer of false documents
“It damages our reputation”
The owners of the Horizon driving school, whose identity is usurped, have filed a complaint with the police. In the complaint reports, which the editorial staff has in its possession, they denounce the use of these false documents. “Documents must meet certain criteria. Some of these are missing or outright falsified. First of all, the logo of the driving school is not the right one, each student receives a registration number in the register which must be mentioned on the certificate. This number is missing. The driving school stamp is missing. The manager’s signature is incorrect.“, list the complainants.
“This fraud has been around for 3 years now. The author has created a fake certificate of aptitude, and according to my information, he has been selling it on the internet for a while“, can we still read in the document.
“This should stop because it harms our reputation and it is a significant loss of customers.“, concludes the declaration.
The authorities are aware
“Our teams are unfortunately aware of the situation.”, recognizes for its part Bruxelles Mobilité. The Brussels regional public service indicates that “the problem has been relayed to the political level” and “several complaints” have been filed”with the Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office once morest persons selling/offering false certificates”.
To fight once morest these frauds, the Federation approved driving schools and training centers request the digitization of documents. “Deliver documents directly between instances rather than giving them to clients“, advocates Hugues Cherpion.
The authorities recall that anyone caught cheating or attempting to cheat will be sanctioned with a one-year ban from taking driving license exams in addition to legal proceedings.
In the meantime, Mimoun will equip itself with new stamps that are more difficult to imitate:
