“Stop-travail.com”: a 22-year-old scammer sold fake sick leave certificates on the Internet
The creator and administrator of a website that issued thousands of fake medical certificates for sick leave will be tried in November for "social security fraud" and "money laundering," the Mont-de-Marsan prosecutor's office announced on Friday.
The 22-year-old Landais resident opened the website "Stop-travail.com" which, from April 2024 to April 2025, offered the sale of counterfeit sick leave certificates to its 42,000 registered users, according to prosecutor Alexa Dubourg.
Customers of this site, hosted by a Cypriot company, could select their symptoms from a nomenclature similar to that of the Social Security system, then choose a doctor near their place of residence, before obtaining a sick note imitating the signature or presenting a fake QR code from the prescribing doctor.
According to investigators, the sale of more than 26,000 fraudulent sick leave certificates generated a total profit of approximately 250,000 euros for the site's creator.
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The amount of the health insurance damages has not been disclosed by the prosecutor's office. It is estimated to be several million euros, according to the newspaper Le Parisien, which broke the story in April.
The suspect, "unfavorably known to the police and the courts for fraud and traffic offenses," will appear in November before the Mont-de-Marsan Criminal Court for "social fraud," "forgery," "illegal practice of the medical profession" and "aggravated money laundering."
He faces a sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of 750,000 euros.
During the investigation, more than 175,000 euros deposited in his bank accounts and a vehicle worth 23,000 euros were seized, the prosecutor's office said.
Le Parisien
