Covid-19: traffic of more than 3,000 fake vaccine passes dismantled

This is the result of an investigation of several months. The gendarmerie announces in a statement released this Saturday that a “network that hacked the professional accounts of health personnel to generate and sell more than 3,000 false passes has been dismantled”.

Members of the Central Office for the Fight once morest Damage to the Environment and Public Health (OCLAESP), who ensure “monitoring of the phenomenon of health pass fraud”, coordinated this investigation leading to the arrest of ” four individuals in the Rhône-Alpes and Île-de-France regions” on February 8.

“Individuals misusing personal data”

“Despite the precautions taken by the criminals, the investigations (…) have enabled the investigators to highlight a channel for the flow of false passes ranging from the reseller via social networks to individuals misappropriating the personal data of health professionals” specifies the gendarmerie, which evokes “the generation of several thousand false passes mainly in the Rhône-Alpes region”.

During the searches, the soldiers discovered in the suspects “numerous telephones and digital media containing data and elements making it possible to materialize the generation of false passes”, announces the press release. As well as luxury items, including expensive watches and vehicles, “acquired by members of this network during or following the material period thanks to the illicit profits from their trafficking”.

Two individuals have been released and are awaiting legal action. Another is awaiting summons to court, and “the fourth was tried in immediate appearance on Friday February 11, 2022 by the Valencia court,” reports the gendarmerie. This man was condemned to nine months of prison and will be able to carry out this sorrow with an electronic bracelet.