A Frenchman who pretended to be an emergency coordinator and organized rescue operations after a storm hit France in 2010 has gone on trial for fraud. 

"/> A Frenchman who pretended to be an emergency coordinator and organized rescue operations after a storm hit France in 2010 has gone on trial for fraud. 

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Man posed as rescuer – charged with fraud

A Frenchman who pretended to be an emergency coordinator and organized rescue operations after a storm hit France in 2010 has gone on trial for fraud. 

Philippe Berre, 57, appeared in court on Thursday, with prosecutors calling for a five-year jail sentence. 

In the village of Charron, his victims say he was “friendly” and “very efficient”. In March 2010, the village on the west coast of France was hit by a storm, Cyclone Xynthia, which killed over 50 people.

In the aftermath, Berre introduced himself as a civil servant working for the Agriculture Ministry sent to organise rescue and the clean-up operations. 

Berre very quickly became the man in charge. He used forged documents to requisition firms, hotel rooms for firefighters. He reportedly sent rescue vehicles and all sorts of lorries for an estimated €70,000.

The court heard on Thursday that most state officials did not suspect Berre of being a fraud. During operations, he would transport them in his stolen car. The judge told the court that he had become “the head of the headquarters of the rescue operations”.

At the trial, the prosecutor accused Berre of fraudulently organising rescue operations to “compensate for his narcissistic failures.”

GERMANY

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents

German police have set up a special team to fight a growing number of forged vaccine certificates being sold in the black market

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents
People who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

Police in Cologne have warned of a group of fraudsters selling fake vaccination certificates, a growing problem the scale of which is still unclear.

The police said the fraudsters worked in encrypted Telegram chats, making investigations difficult, and were selling fake documents with all the stamps and signatures, including a mark about vaccination with BioNTech or AstraZeneca.

READ ALSO: Germany probes Covid-19 testing centres for fraud

The fraud involved both real traffic in fake documents as well as scams luring customers into paying €100.

People in Germany who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Those who don’t have a booklet get a piece of paper.

Covid health passes are currently being rolled out across the EU, with a European health passport expected to be available from mid-June.

READ ALSO: What’s the latest on how the EU’s ‘Covid passports’ will work for travellers?

Over 44% of the adult population in Germany has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and more than 18% of Germans have been fully vaccinated.

German police have said forged coronavirus vaccine documents are becoming an increasing problem.

Last month, a couple in Baden-Württemberg was accused of selling fake coronavirus vaccination certificates.

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