Fraudsters offering £40 fake fit-to-fly certificates to dodge omicron travel rules

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Fraudsters are selling fake fit-to-fly certificates for £40 to passengers wanting to dodge Covid travel rules in a social media scam described by government officials as “completely unacceptable.”

An investigation by Brighton newspaper The Argus has found an online laboratory claiming to perform 36,000 tests per month, promising “private and secure results”.

Anyone travelling to the UK from non-red-list countries must show a negative test, regardless of their vaccination status.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the scam was “completely unacceptable” and urged anyone with a fake test to contact Action Fraud, the Citizens Advice Bureau or the UK Accreditation Service.

“Members of the public are strongly encouraged to find a test provider via the appropriate Gov.uk list to ensure they meet the government’s minimum standard,” a spokesperson said.

“Our utmost priority is protecting the health of the public and reducing the risk of new variants, such as Omicron, spreading.”

The Argus investigation centred on an advert found on Facebook Marketplace. An undercover reporter posed as an interested buyer trying to travel to Germany and was offered a certificate “without the test” by someone claiming to be an expert with access to a laboratory in the UK.

The fraudster later admitted he was trying to make a “little bit of money.”

Facebook has since removed the advert and says it does “not allow the sale of Covid-19 test kits” at all.

A spokesman said: “We do not allow the sale of Covid-19 test kits on Facebook Marketplace and we swiftly removed the listing brought to our attention.”

On Sunday, an additional 1,239 confirmed cases of the omicron variant were reported in the UK. In a TV announcement, the prime minister said anyone aged 18 and over would have access to the vaccine booster programme by the end of the year.