Amsterdam police arrest two for falsifying 1,300 Covid vaccine records mostly for travel

Two Amsterdam residents were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of fraudulent manipulating the records of at least 1,300 people to show that they received vaccination against Covid-19. The alleged criminality took place over a year ago. The two suspects were taken into custody on Tuesday, police announced.

"The suspects, a 24-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, are said to have created false vaccination records in February and March 2022," police said in a statement.

One of the two suspects was employed by the GGD municipal health service at the time. The two allegedly had access to the vaccine registration system by using the computer login credentials of GGD employees who had recently stopped working for the organization. Those former employees were all previously working at the vaccination center located at the RAI convention center in Amsterdam, police said.

Anyone who obtained completed a Covid-19 vaccine series with the GGD could use the proof of vaccination to obtain a coronavirus access pass in the Netherlands. The passes, in the form of a QR code, were often needed to enter diverse locations as the Netherlands emerged from the coronavirus pandemic. They were also given to people who either recovered from a coronavirus infection, or who tested negative for the infection within a specified timeframe.

However, proof of vaccination was often needed to travel to certain countries. With the suspects' illicit access to the vaccine registration system, "buyers could falsely hold a QR code without actually being vaccinated," police claimed. "These QR codes were presumably used to travel abroad, mainly to countries where the QR code was required to travel into the country at that time."

The case remains under investigation, police said. It could lead to more arrests in the future.