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FRAUD

Fraudster caught on film gives up: ‘I felt watched’

A Swedish man suspected of using a fake driver's licence to defraud a bank of 1.8 million kronor ($273,000) has turned himself in after seeing his picture in the newspaper.

The man, who is around 50 years old, was captured on surveillance footage taken at a bank branch in Strängnäs in central Sweden around lunchtime on September 12th, the Aftonbladet newspaper reported.

During his visit, the man asked to have several invoices paid using a fake driver’s licence depicting a Stockholm-based account holder.

All told, he managed to have the bank process fraudulent transactions worth 1.8 million kronor.

When the actual owner of the account discovered the next day that his account had been emptied, the money had already been moved to another account.

Earlier this week, however, images of the man were published in the Swedish media and broadcast on TV3’s “Efterlyst” (‘Wanted’) television programme.

After seeing his likeness on TV and in the paper, the daring fraudster realized the gig was up and turned himself in to local police on Thursday.

“He came in because he saw his picture in Aftonbladet and later on ‘Efterlyst’,” local police officer Willy Bäckström told the paper.

“He thought it was rather unpleasant and felt he was being watched.”

The man was subsequently interviewed by police and later detained on suspicion of aggravated fraud.

In addition to the incident in Strängnäs, the man is also being investigated for a number of other suspected swindles.

According to Aftonbladet, the man has previously been convicted of accounting fraud.

The Local/dl

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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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