Maximum Community Service and Conditional Prison Sentences Demanded on Suspicion of Fraud with Vaccination Certificates During Corona Period

News report | 03-02-2026 | 11:08

The six suspects are three men and three women, residing in Amsterdam, Almere, and Breukelen, aged between 30 and 59 years. The three women all worked as medical assistants in the same Amsterdam general practice in 2021.

All six individuals are suspected of falsifying and distributing vaccination certificates for payment in the second half of 2021 - during the corona period - with each suspect playing a crucial and essential role in their own way.

Three of them were also suspected of producing and distributing false test certificates. Finally, two of them were also suspected of embezzlement in relation to vaccination-related goods, such as vaccine stickers.

False data entered

This was a very cunning form of fraud as real vaccines were used for this purpose. Fake appointments were also made, pretending that vaccinations took place. The vaccine was discarded, but the vaccination data was entered into the registration system so that the persons concerned were falsely registered as vaccinated. This was ultimately the goal for the customers who paid a lot for it.

The three medical assistants are - briefly put - suspected of producing those false vaccination certificates, while their co-suspects are suspected of distributing those false vaccination certificates, among other things via advertisements on Snapchat.

This morning, the public prosecutor said in his indictment: “For all suspects, it applies that they have seriously damaged the trust of citizens in the government and have contributed in an aggravating way to undermining Dutch government policy. This is all the more serious as it concerns public health. Society must be able to trust the authenticity of documents showing whether the person concerned has been vaccinated or tested negative, as these vaccination statuses and test certificates played an important role in combating the corona crisis under which society was burdened at the time, and in reopening society.”

Fraud and profiteering

According to the Public Prosecution Service, all suspects repeatedly committed a serious form of fraud. The actual role of the six suspects differs per person; one has been structurally involved in fraud and profiteering more than the other. Therefore, the demands differ per suspect. Moreover, the age of the facts has been taken into account. The substantive handling after the first arrests took more than four years due to the complexity and duration of the investigation, the later submitted research requests, and the logistical challenges to bring all cases simultaneously, according to the public prosecutor in his indictment.

All things considered, the public prosecutor demanded the maximum community service of 240 hours against all six suspects, combined with conditional prison sentences ranging from 3 to 12 months, to emphasize the seriousness of the fraud.