CHENNAI: A 30-year-old man who allegedly sent fake Covid-19 negative certificates on WhatsApp to those in urgent need to travel abroad for a payment of Rs 500 has been arrested. The accused identified as S Irfan Khan from Triplicane along with Praveen in Dubai have issued 70 fake certificates in the last four months. Inspector Raj Kumar from North Beach police station, said Irfan Khan handles the customers in the city while Praveen makes the ‘photoshopped’ version of negative certificates.
“The duo issued certificates in the name of an existing medical lab in Mannadi. The fraud came to light after the owner of the lab came across the WhatsApp message in his lab’s name that Covid-19 certificate will be issued within 30 minutes of sending a passport copy on WhatsApp,” said the police officer.
Harish Parvesh of KHM Medical Centre who was shocked to find his lab’s name being misused initially thought that his staff could be behind it. To confirm that the WhatsApp message was valid, he sent a friend’s passport copy and paid `500 on GPay. To his shock, he received a negative certificate in 30 minutes, after which he lodged a complaint with North Beach police.
Inspector Rajkumar launched a hunt and secured Irfan Khan from Triplicane. “They just changed the personal details, while the sign and seal remained the same in all certificates. Irfan Khan, who would receive details from people forwaded it to Praveen, who would prepare the certificate,” said police.
Police said Irfan Khan himself travelled from Dubai to Chennai on the basis of a certificate issued by Praveen, after which they became partners.