Two men who cynically abused the health care system by selling fake products COVID-19 vaccination passports during the pandemic have ended up in jail.
Waqas Hanif and Touqir Nasir were linked to more than 2,000 fake documents created in 2021 that endangered the public by allowing unvaccinated individuals to travel abroad or meet in groups.
The pair advertised the documents online and charged ‘customers’ up to £150 to prove they had received two doses of the vaccine.
Hanif, 28, was a care coordinator for the vaccination program at Kingsway Health Center in Luton, Bedfordshire, where 2,663 suspect entries were recorded.
After he was arrested he was found to have a safe containing £136,405 cash.
Nasir, 31, funneled tens of thousands of pounds into the clandestine scheme using a bank account opened under the identity of Adam Parker after changing his name through a deed poll.
Both men were convicted at Luton Crown Court after admitting offenses under the Fraud Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act. Hanif also pleaded guilty to an offense under the Computer Misuse Act.
Hanif was given a three-year prison sentence, while Nasir was given a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for one year, and told he would be subject to a six-month curfew.
Waqas Hanif, 28, was a care coordinator for the vaccination program at Kingsway Health Center in Luton, Bedfordshire
Touqir Nasir, 31, funneled tens of thousands of pounds into the clandestine scheme using a bank account opened under the identity of Adam Parker after changing his name through a deed poll.
Investigators found a safe in Hanif’s name. After he was arrested, he was found to have a safe containing £136,405 in cash.
After the hearing on Thursday, Deputy Director Paul Foster, head of the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit, said: ‘These men cynically abused our healthcare system for financial gain, at a time when the country was experiencing the turmoil and pain of the Covid-19 pandemic.’
A joint investigation by the NCA and NHS England was launched following concerns about unvaccinated people paying for vaccine passport details advertised on social media platforms such as Telegram.
It is suspected that organized criminals have recruited or collaborated with non-clinical staff to produce the fraudulent data.
Of the 2,663 suspicious entries identified at Kingsway Health Centre, 1,875 were linked to five IP addresses linked to Hanif’s home address in Luton.
Investigators then determined that he had site administrator rights to Pinnacle, the NHS system used to generate and record vaccinations.
Hanif was arrested at home in January 2022 by NCA officers who found his NHS ID card, £7,000 in cash, NHS documents and an application form for the Luton Safe Deposit Center.
The depot center’s CCTV footage showed him accessing his storage unit – the largest available – on a number of occasions.
His fingerprints were found on some banknotes and around 250 images showing the personal details, including names and addresses, of around 340 ‘patients’ were found on his mobile phone.
Covid-19 passports – official NHS passes used to prove double jab status – were uploaded to the NHS mobile phone app
During an interview, Hanif admitted to creating the false vaccination records, but claimed he did so under duress from local criminals who paid for the certificates.
Nasir, who attended a voluntary interview in March 2023, had deposited £56,000 into the account opened with his new identity.
Most consisted of deposits of between £100 and £400, suspected to be payments for documents.
Reviews of NHS systems found that some of the names making deposits had false vaccine data generated.
Bank statements also showed that £1,000 had been transferred to Hanif, which, the investigation found, was payment for the documents Nasir had created.
Mr Foster added: ‘Such exploitation of our healthcare system to enable unvaccinated individuals to circumvent the restrictions put in place to protect the British public is illegal.
‘Working closely with the NHS England Counter Fraud Team, this investigation has helped secure the safety of our communities by preventing organized criminals from moving forward. They are undermining the national response to the pandemic and benefiting financially from the harmful services they provide.’
