Only fake vaccination passports appeared in Germany
The first forged vaccination passports have appeared in Germany – and experts believe that the trend is likely to increase. According to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), there are still no nationwide case numbers – in Bavaria alone, however, “a low double-digit number of procedures or reports are known,” as the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) in Munich announced at the request of the German Press Agency.
“Compared to other criminal offers of personal and identity documents, the forgery of vaccination certificates is still a numerically small phenomenon,” said a BKA spokesman. “An increase in the demand and thus also in the supply of falsified vaccination certificates is likely due to the legal relaxation for vaccinated people.”
As a dpa survey among the Bavarian police headquarters showed, the falsified corona vaccination certificates that have emerged so far are unevenly distributed across the state: Most cases – namely five – were reported by the Munich police headquarters. From the area of the Upper Bavaria South Police Headquarters in Rosenheim, however, it was said: “So far this has not been a big issue for us.”
Vaccination passports are currently “probably the hottest counterfeit goods”, said the Munich I public prosecutor’s office. A forged vaccination passport can be easily obtained on internet platforms such as Telegram. “The prices that have become known so far for fake vaccination cards with a registered Covid-19 vaccination are in the high two-digit to low three-digit range per item, depending on the offer,” said the LKA. “In some cases,” special offers “are offered in the case of additional purchases.”
The forgery of a complete vaccination pass or even just the proof of vaccination in a real passport is very easy, said a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office. Blank vaccination records can be ordered quite legally on the Internet, and doctor’s stamps are also easy to get online. And the forgery of the batch numbers is not a major obstacle: “The batch numbers with which the entry of the corona vaccination must be provided can be found by the counterfeiters from the countless pictures in the social networks that freshly vaccinated people post from their vaccination records.”
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