Europe 1 with AFP 4:20 p.m., January 30, 2023

The Nanterre Criminal Court in the Paris region has been on trial since Monday for five people suspected of having sold between May and November 2021 around 11,000 fake health passes, for a recipe of nearly 400,000 euros.

The members of this network offered fake passes between 250 and 330 euros each.

Five people are on trial from Monday by the Nanterre Criminal Court in the Hauts-de-Seine for having sold between May and November 2021 around 11,000 fake health passes in the Paris region, in the Rhône and Ain for a recipe close to of 400,000 euros.

The members of this network broadcast "anti-vaccine" messages from Snapchat accounts 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.

“Forgery sellers” prosecuted

The five people, three men, two of whom are imprisoned and two women (one of whom was absent from the hearing on Monday), are being prosecuted in particular for computer crimes, fraud in an organized gang, money laundering in an organized gang or for complicity or concealment of these same crimes.

The investigation carried out from August 2021 following anonymous information had made it possible to identify 11 people for acts committed between May and November 2021.

>> READ ALSO

- Covid-19: 182,000 fake health passes generated according to the Ministry of the Interior

Among these 11 people, five have already been given suspended sentences ranging from ten to 24 months, including eight months at a hearing to appear on prior admission of guilt in November.

Among the people prosecuted are "forger-sellers", who produced the false passes themselves and resold them, "resellers", who bought these false passes from third parties before reselling them to their customers, and "collectors of funds", who were responsible for donating the proceeds.

No health professional, whose numbers were used, is among those prosecuted.

A very simple procedure

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

To hack the vaccine database, the procedure was simple: all you had to do was obtain the RPPS number ("shared directory of health professionals") 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.

The court's decision is expected on Wednesday.