Four charged with sale of fake Covid-19 passports
PA MediaFour people have been charged in connection with the sale of fake Covid-19 passports during the pandemic.
Christopher Thompson, 36, from Horden, Shahid Hussain, 33, from Middlesbrough, Ian Taylor, 42, and Abbey-Leigh Coates, 25, both from Darlington, were arrested by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers in early 2022 and 2023.
They are accused of creating 1,168 fraudulent vaccination records and selling them to the public for a total of more than £200,000.
NCA deputy director Paul Foster said while receiving a vaccine was a "personal choice", abusing the healthcare system to enable "unvaccinated individuals to bypass restrictions" was illegal.
He said the joint investigation with NHS England's Counter Fraud Team had helped keep communities safe from criminals "undermining the national pandemic response".
During the pandemic, unvaccinated people paid for legitimate vaccine passport records, which were obtained from online marketplaces illegally, the NCA said.
Police suspect organised criminals recruited healthcare professionals to produce the fraudulent records, which allowed unvaccinated people to travel during restrictions.
The four suspects are alleged to have sold fake passports between June 2021 and January 2022, some of which were thought to have been created at a health centre in Darlington.
All four suspects have been charged with offences under the Computer Misuse Act and Fraud Act and are due to appear at Peterlee Magistrates' Court on Monday.
