Italian police bust fake health pass scheme on Telegram app

ROME: Italian police on Monday blocked several groups on mobile messaging app Telegram where users could buy fake COVID-19 health passes required to access an array of services and leisure activities.

The so-called Green Pass is a digital or paper certificate that shows if someone has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, has tested negative or recently recovered from the virus. Mario Draghi's government adopted the pass to try to accelerate vaccinations in the face of the Delta variant, but it has triggered protests by some Italians who say it tramples on freedoms and is an indirect way of making vaccines obligatory.