Police have arrested a 19-year-old in Marseille for entering a hospital using the QR code for French president Emmanuel Macron’s coronavirus passport.
The teen presented the French leader’s QR code at the Salvator Hospital of Marseille last Tuesday. Security guards realised the young man was attempting to enter the hospital using bogus credentials but allowed him to enter before informing the police.
Officers arrived at the hospital and took the teen into custody, with a source close to the investigation telling news website Actu17 on the weekend: “He explained that he had an appointment and had to participate in a working group. Given that he did not have a health pass, he decided to present that of Emmanuel Macron, which had been leaked on the internet a few weeks ago.”
The leaking of President Macron’s QR code on social media networks had raised concerns over the system’s ability to protect the privacy of French citizens.
“This system works, but there has been an ethical flaw on the part of one or more health professionals. Someone made an impression of the QR code and circulated it voluntarily or by negligence,” the French government had said in response to the leak.
Macron is not the only major French official to have his health pass QR code leaked. Prime Minister Jean Castex also had his code leaked after a photographer took a picture of him while the code was displayed on his smartphone.
The French National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM) told broadcaster France Info that there are three main ways people try and circumvent the vaccine passport system in France.
The first involves fake QR codes, while the second sees people using QR codes belonging to others who have been fully vaccinated, and the third is real health passes but which are obtained fraudulently by people who have not been vaccinated.
Presenting a coronavirus passport belonging to someone else is a crime in France, punishable by a €750 (£637.76/$866.95) fine or €135 (£114.80/$156.05) if the fine is paid on the spot. Anyone caught repeating their actions within 15 days can face a €1,500 (£1,275.52/$1,733.91) fine.
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