Three people have been arrested following a probe into suspected fake COVID-19 vaccination records.

Staff at a London NHS trust began noticing a suspicious pattern on some online vaccination records and alerted Action Fraud who in turn contacted the police.

Following investigations, a 27-year-old man and a 23-year-old man, both from Ilford, have been arrested for unauthorised computer use and conspiracy to commit fraud by misrepresentation.

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Searches at a residential property are under way and 11 devices have been seized.

In an unrelated investigation, a 36-year-old man from Ilford was arrested for the same charges, with three devices seized from a residential address.

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All three men remain in custody while the two separate investigations continue.

Detective Superintendent Helen Rance from the Metropolitan Police’s central Cyber Crime Team, said: “It is concerning that individuals may have fraudulently created false COVID-19 vaccination records during a time when levels of the virus are rising.

“The staff at both trusts did the right thing and reported their concerns which has allowed us to fully investigate the circumstances.

“I want to reassure the public that no systems were hacked into from outside of the NHS networks and the integrity of the NHS systems remains robust.”

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