"Receiving a vaccine is a matter of individual choice. However, abusing our healthcare system to facilitate unvaccinated individuals to bypass restrictions that are in place to protect the British public is illegal," said Paul Foster, deputy director at the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit.
"Working closely with the NHS England Counter Fraud Team, this investigation has helped to secure the safety of our communities by preventing organized criminals from further undermining the national pandemic response and benefiting financially from the damaging service they provided."
The agency suspects that legitimate healthcare professionals were recruited by organized crime groups (OCGs) to generate the fraudulent records, which were then sold illegally.
Acquiring fake COVID-19 vaccine records allowed the unvaccinated to bypass travel and health and safety restrictions mandating vaccinations.
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