Four people from the North East have been slapped with charges after a joint National Crime Agency (NCA) and NHS England probe uncovered a massive fake Covid vaccine passport racket.
Crackdown on Fraudulent Vaccine Passports
The NCA revealed that Christopher Thompson, 36, from Horden; Shahid Hussain, 33, from Middlesbrough; Ian Taylor, 42; and Abbey-Leigh Coates, 25, both from Darlington, were arrested between early 2022 and 2023. They are accused of creating and selling bogus COVID-19 vaccination records during the pandemic.
The scam involved faking a whopping 1,168 vaccine records from June 2021 to January 2022. Some of these fake certificates were even produced at a health centre in Darlington.
These counterfeit vaccine passports were sold to the public, raking in over £200,000.
How the Scam Worked
Unvaccinated individuals paid for apparently genuine vaccine passports, which were illegally obtained and sold via online marketplaces. Organised crime figures allegedly recruited healthcare professionals to whip up the fake records, allowing people to dodge restrictions and travel freely when others couldn’t.
Legal Action Underway
The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised charges against all four suspects under the Computer Misuse Act and the Fraud Act. They are set to appear in Peterlee Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 2 March.
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