Nine people – “A hacker and eight resellers” – were arrested in the Paris region, near Lyon and in Drôme at the end of June.
Le Monde
In less than two weeks, they had published nearly 7,000 false sanitary passes. Nine people were arrested at the end of June and are the subject of summons before an investigating judge, the France-Presse agency learned on Monday July 12 to the specialized interregional jurisdiction (JRIRS) of Nancy.
These people, “a hacker and eight resellers”, were arrested in the Paris region, near Lyon and Drôme, the JIRS said in a statement. Two of them are already incarcerated for other cases and “some of the respondents are already known to justice for damage to an automated data processing system”, added the Nancy magistrates.
from 100 to 400 euros per pass
Between August 31 and September 10, 2021, they had hacked the accounts of fifteen pharmacists located in the Grand Est region by operating “a security flaw on the website of the order of pharmacists”. “Twelve of the fifteen hacked accounts were used to edit false passes,” said the Jirs, adding that the order of pharmacists had filed a complaint
This piracy had enabled nine individuals to resell 6,927 false health passes, for prices ranging from 100 to 400 euros, “generating significant criminal benefit”. The Jirs prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation in November 2021 and an investigating judge was seized on March 4. Arrested then placed in police custody at the end of June, the nine accused will appear “soon” before an investigating judge, said the jirs.
“The phenomenon of false passes presents dangers for human life, especially in the event of unsuitable medical care of people endowed with emergency passes,” said the public prosecutor in the press release.
In January, another largest network had also been the subject of a large net, as part of two surveys in Lyon and Paris. The diversion of the account of a nurse had made it possible to establish more than 54,000 false health passes throughout the territory in the space of less than a month. Thirteen people had been arrested.