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FRAUD

Man cons 50 Swedes in online shopping scam

A man has been charged with aggravated fraud after he conned internet users in Sweden into parting with over 400,000 kronor ($61,100) for items that the buyers never received.

Published: 23 July 2013 07:18 CEST
Man cons 50 Swedes in online shopping scam

The man, a 32-year-old resident of Falköping in Sweden’s south, used popular buy-sell website Blocket to make the fortune.

On the website, he tricked Swedes into shopping for goods that he didn’t own, then collected the money without sending any product in return.

Over a period of three months beginning in February this year, the 32-year-old managed to sell to over 50 people across the country on the popular site.

On Monday, the man was charged by the Skaraborg District Court on the suspicion of aggravated fraud.

The man had two male accomplices aged 23 and 61, each of whom has been charged with on the suspicion of abetting the crime. The men were responsible for running the bank account where the conned money was deposited.

Blocket, which is similar to eBay, is Sweden’s largest buy-sell site and the third most visited website in the country.

TT/The Local/og

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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

Published: 5 June 2021 12:58 CEST
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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