Fake health passes: five people tried for fraud at the Nanterre court

This Monday, five members of a network are tried for fraud at the Nanterre court. They are accused of having sold 11,000 health passes between May and November 2021, particularly in Île-de-France.

Several thousand fake health passes. A network of criminals is expected this Monday before the Nanterre Criminal Court in the Hauts-de-Seine for fraud. The five accused would have put on sale no less than 11,000 false documents between May and November 2021 in the Paris region, in the Rhône and Ain for a recipe of nearly 400,000 euros.

The five people, three men, two of whom are incarcerated, and two women (including one absent at the hearing on Monday)are prosecuted in particular for computer crimes, fraud in organized gangs, money laundering in organized gangs or for complicity or concealment of these same crimes.

The members of this network were spreading messages “antivaccine” from accounts snapchat, and offered fake passes between 250 and 330 euros each. They collected the buyers’ names and Social Security numbers and hacked into the vaccine database. Among the persons prosecuted are “sellers-counterfeiters“, who themselves made the false passes thathe resold, the “resellers“, bought these fake passes from third parties before reselling them to their customers, and “fundraisers“, who were responsible for donating the proceeds.

The investigation carried out from August 2021 following anonymous information had made it possible to identify eleven people for acts committed between May and November 2021.

Among these eleven people, five have already been given suspended sentences ranging from ten to twenty-four months, including eight months at a hearing to appear on prior admission of guilt in November.

The crooks took advantage of “the negligence of these professionals, who validated the session openings too hastily”, according to the investigating judge.

To hack into the vaccine database, the procedure was simple: all you had to do was obtain the RPPS (“shared directory of health professionals”) number of a doctor and send a request for authorization to open a session. to the professional concerned.

The investigators estimated the total amount of revenue from this network at 396,000 euros, by adding the lines of an accounts journal found in a man’s home.

The court’s decision is expected on Wednesday.

With AFP