The National Police have dismantled the first network in Spain to issue false Covid Certificates. So far the investigation has resulted in six arrests in Madrid and one in Barcelona, including a nurse, and has uncovered a criminal network operating at a European level that in Spain, has not only issued hundreds of fake certificates, but has also facilitated fraudulent registration of at least 1,600 people in the National Vaccination database, with the help of health personnel.
The network, which was advertised in instant messaging applications, has taken advantage of anti-vax themed groups offering both false PCR test results, as well as forged Covid Certificates and, in the case of the wealthiest, direct registration in the Health Service database, which includes a well-known Spanish singer called Omar Montes, and accused drug smuggler, Ana María Cameno, known as the 'Queen of Coke’.
The investigation, which is still open, has allowed the detection and identification of the leaders of the criminal organization that has been operating from France. In Spain, those arrested face charges for document falsification and fraud, and crimes against public health, charges that the people who obtained the false documents throughout Spain could also face shortly.
The most disturbing part for the police investigators is that the organisation would have needed health personnel on the inside, who entered the details of those who required false certificates directly into the database.
In addition, the Police suspect the possible theft of access codes for the national database and some passwords "with which they also registered unvaccinated people, so that it looked like they had received their jabs and could obtain the documentation they needed."
The Ministry del Interior confirmed this morning, that the investigation began in early January when adverts were detected in messaging groups, and agents were able to verify that members of criminal gangs, or their intermediaries, had already entered the groups on these apps selling their services.
The organization charged 200 euros to people who wanted to purchase a QR code, but they also offered counterfeit vaccination records in exchange for 1,000 euros, which investigators have been able to verify the fraudulent registration of some 1,600 people in the National Vaccination database, generating 1.6 million euros.
Investigators were also able to verify that, in most cases, they demanded payment in cryptocurrencies through accounts that they had opened in third countries to make tracking by the authorities more complicated.
Once payment was received, the interested parties obtained the QR code that contained the fraudulent vaccination schedule, and two days later they were able to obtain a Covid Certificate showing that two or three doses of a vaccine were recorded as having been received.
After identifying the intermediaries of the criminal network in Spain, an operation was carried out that allowed the arrest of all of them, as well as the identification of the leaders of the organization. The investigation remains open and new arrests are not ruled out.
