The illegal trade in fake vaccination cards is flourishing. Nationwide, police authorities are observing lively demand from opponents of vaccination. In the meantime, they have already initiated more than 12,000 investigations.
Düsseldorf – What do ex-jungle camp candidate Christin Okpara and ex-Werder-Bremen trainer Markus Anfang have in common? Both lost their jobs because they are said to have presented fake vaccination cards.
The police are now investigating such suspected cases nationwide with more than 12,000 procedures. The number skyrocketed last December, police authorities in the federal states reported in a nationwide survey by the German Press Agency.
Bavaria is the leader with more than 4,000 procedures and 5,500 secured vaccination cards and certificates, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia with more than 3,500 procedures. “Unfortunately, we have to assume that there is a large number of unreported cases,” reported the state government in Munich.
At the end of November, the legislature once again clarified the criminal liability. Apparently, this did not have a deterrent effect: the 3G obligation in many areas probably really boosted the counterfeiters’ business.
Offers on Telegram
On the Internet, investigators came across relevant offers on social media channels and messenger services such as Telegram, which met with customers willing to pay among vaccination skeptics and vaccination opponents, although the originals including real vaccination protection are available for free.
In extreme cases, users of false vaccination cards face even more than job loss and a fine or probation for “use of incorrect health certificates”: After a corona outbreak with three deaths in a nursing home in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, the public prosecutor’s office is investigating an employee of the facility who was fired without notice manslaughter The woman is said to have worked in the home with a fake vaccination card, although family members at her home were ill with Covid-19.
Counterfeiting equipment secured
At the beginning of December 2021, a total of 800 blank vaccination cards, vaccine stickers, various stamps and other counterfeiting equipment were seized during a search in Kassel. A month earlier, a search of an apartment in Frankfurt/Main found a total of 146 blank vaccination cards.
There have also been cases of doctors who only stuck the sticker for the vaccine dose in their patient’s vaccination card, without injecting the vaccine. They now face up to five years in prison.
In October, investigators arrested suspected fraudsters in Munich who are said to have used the IT infrastructure of a pharmacy to produce fake vaccination certificates – more than 500 within a month alone.
Pass is easy to manipulate
The yellow vaccination card according to the specifications of the World Health Organization is easy to manipulate. The booklet can be ordered online for a few euros. Medical practice stamps can also be easily obtained. The vaccine dose stickers with the batch number are now at least provided with a watermark – this was not the case until recently.
Vaccination pass counterfeiters now offer a complete package on Telegram: the completed vaccination book including the QR code costs 200 to 300 euros. However, the fraudulent vaccination unwillingness who order a counterfeit online have no guarantee that a false vaccination card will actually be delivered.
Pharmacy testing
In the pharmacies that create the QR code for the digital vaccination certificate, it is now possible to check whether the place and time of the vaccination match the batch number in the vaccination card. This is obviously not clear to many owners of vaccination cards.
In the Ruhr area, a 30-year-old stormed out of the pharmacy on Monday when her vaccination card was revealed to be forged – and left her identity card lying around. The same game a few kilometers away in Unna: The man with the wrong vaccination card hurriedly disappeared, but left copies of his health insurance card and identity card. dpa
