Fake COVID Test Scam Targets Morocco-Bound Travelers in Montpellier

Given the high demand for Covid test certificates and the problems many Montpellier residents are facing in making appointments, some cunning individuals have started manufacturing fake certificates. "I discovered this market a few weeks ago," said Dr. Abdelkader El Marraki. "Many telecom shops run by young North Africans have thus found a new way to make money," he added, reports Midi Libre.

"These young people take the real negative Covid-19 test certificates and, using computer tools, modify them." "I’ve seen fakes with the header of my laboratory and with my signature!" testified the Moroccan doctor, adding that there are "fake negative certificates and sometimes they even transform positive results into negatives so that their clients can go on a trip. Unfortunately, all this exists."

And Dr. El Marraki continued: "I told them that what they were doing is serious. Especially for Morocco where the epidemic is literally exploding lately. In my hometown there are daily deaths," said the doctor, who went to these forgers to dissuade them. In vain, the media notes.

So far, in La Paillade, "some believe that this virus is like the plague or part of a large-scale conspiracy," laments El Marraki.