Beach vacation at the end of the year: Sandra K. * was on vacation with her partner in Mexico at the end of the year. For the return trip to Switzerland, she needed a valid negative PCR test. She and her partner wanted to have it done in a hospital because the test was the cheapest there. The young Swiss woman says: “At the hospital they informed us that it would take 72 hours for the result to be there.” The problem: The certificate would not have been valid for the entire flight time, because the two had to change trains in Portugal. K. says: “When I found out about that, I was pretty hateful!”
A security employee at the hospital also noticed this and asked the two of them whether they needed a valid Covid certificate without testing. Sandra K. and her boyfriend refused, but still got the number from the middleman.
The two were then tested elsewhere. Finally the shock: K.’s test was positive! “I had a crying fit. Because I couldn’t extend my vacation another ten days, I just wanted to go back to Switzerland, ”she says. “I also didn’t know whether they were kidding me with the test and whether they tested me positive. Because I hardly had any symptoms. ” In addition, it is known that this could be a tourist scam in Mexico. Because people would then have to stay in Mexico for another ten days, in a hotel in quarantine. She finally called the number the security man had given her in front of the hospital – and ordered a fake certificate.
Nervous about fake Covid certificate
“I knew absolutely nothing about these people and had to transfer the money to an anonymous bank card,” explains Sandra K. Costs for the fake certificate: 1200 Mexican pesos, the equivalent of around 55 francs. “Then it took less than five minutes and I had the certificate on my smartphone,” she says.
She was very nervous before departure, K. recalls looking back. Would it be blown? Your concerns: in vain. “I got through the airport in Mexico without any problems. Likewise with the stopover in Portugal. When I arrived in Switzerland, I wasn’t even checked. ” Immediately after arrival, K. had himself tested again. The test in Switzerland was also positive. “I then immediately went into quarantine.”
Flown with a very bad conscience
Looking back, she says: “I flew with a very bad conscience. I almost never took off the mask during the flights – except for eating and drinking. I’ve never been to the toilet, I disinfected my hands regularly and changed my mask every four hours. “
Security precautions that apparently weren’t enough. The consequences: Several people from the flight from Portugal to Switzerland had to be quarantined because of K.
The Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) writes – addressed from a view of forged certificates: “Neither the airline nor the Border Guard Corps are able to determine whether a certificate is forged or not.” And: “We are not aware of any specific cases. If such a case was known, this would be reported immediately to the responsible cantonal law enforcement authorities. ” It is also possible to block foreign Covid certificates for use in Switzerland.
The airline is not responsible for verifying authenticity
At Swiss, too, when asked about fake certificates, people shrug their shoulders: “It is not the responsibility of the airline or our ground-handling partners to check the authenticity of the entry documents, this is a matter for the authorities,” says a speaker to look. In general and regardless of Corona, however, Swiss is not allowed to transport people who do not meet the entry requirements in the respective country.
It sounds similar at the Helvetic airline: “The certificates are checked by the ground handling agents at the respective departure airports. They take the controls very seriously and Helvetic Airways regularly reviews the processes at the airports. We are not aware of any case in which a passenger with a forged certificate appeared on board a Helvetic aircraft. “
Only Edelweiss says that it has already happened that passengers with false certificates wanted to travel: “Yes, it has happened that we have turned passengers away because the test result or the vaccination certificate appeared to have been manipulated or falsified. In such a case, transportation will be refused. ” The airline does not want to give any figures in this regard.