France Sees Surge in Fake Covid Passes for Travel to Morocco and Spain

"We offer you the creation of a 100% valid health pass made by doctors with whom we collaborate," explains one of these channels (Snapchat or Telegram) that offer to sell fake (real) vaccination certificates against the coronavirus. The channel demanded France Info, which posed as a customer, 250 euros in exchange for the health pass. An amount that must be paid in Monero, a cryptocurrency that guarantees the anonymity of transactions. The time to obtain the precious pass is one week. "We need to drown the files in the masses, hence the slowness of the file," it is explained.

On Snapchat, the interlocutor reassures: "It works! I already have people who have traveled with it, who have gone to Morocco, Spain, Portugal..." He says he works with a doctor in his city, in Savoie: a professional authorized to issue a compliant certificate on the website of the Health Insurance. "The doctor earns 300 euros per vaccine. After that, he doesn’t do too many, he takes care of himself." The certificate, he continues, will be available directly on the official website ameli.fr. "It’s a real QR code, it’s as if he had injected the dose. He empties a vaccine into the sink and writes that he gave it to you. That’s it, it’s as simple as that."

Announcements of this kind are proliferating on the web. Another user promises a pass in 24 hours: "You have to send me your Vitale card and a 110 euro deposit." "I need your Vitale card in photo please. The price is 250 euros, you pay in Safe Card [on Paypal]," details a profile. Journalists from France info found that some of the contacted profiles were deleted from one day to the next and a phone number became unreachable. This will not be the case for their colleagues from Le Parisien. They managed to obtain a real (false) vaccination certificate for 300 € in a vaccination center.

The Ministry of Solidarity and Health said it is "closely monitoring the issue." It also "alerted the Regional Health Agencies as well as the vaccination centers in order to strengthen their vigilance and identify any suspicious acts or movements." Offenders face severe penalties in case of forgery: a fine of 45,000 euros and a maximum sentence of three years in prison.