Fake nurse ‘made over £4k giving sham Covid vaccines to wealthy businessmen in virus scam at their luxury homes’
A FAKE nurse allegedly “made over £4,000 giving sham Covid vaccines to wealthy businessmen in virus scam at their luxury homes.”
Scammer Cláudia Mônica Pinheiro Torres is accused of posing as a nurse and giving fake Covid jabs to businessmen for £77 a shot in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Federal Police, believes she has administered fake Covid vaccines to at least 57 people last month.
The woman, who works as an elderly caregiver, posed as a nurse while there is no record of her in the Regional Nursing Council of Minas Gerais, reports G1.
CCTV footage showed Torres, wearing nurse’s scrubs, entering a luxury home on March 17, where it is believed she administered saline instead of vaccines to wealthy businessmen.
It is estimated she charged about £77 per jab, making in total over £4,000.
According to the outlet, there are records of her entering the property in the Gutierrez neighbourhood, in the western region of the capital on March 5 and 22.
Apart from visiting luxury homes, it is believed Torres has also given the jab to another 40 people in a company’s bus garage.
The woman has been charged with “falsifying, corrupting, or altering products intended for therapeutic or medicinal purposes.”
Her lawyer Bruno Agostini said: “After the depositions are made, the defence will focus its work on the process and on the respective petitions.
“While it does not have access to the depositions of witnesses, other documents to be attached to the records and other confidential procedures carried out by the Federal Police, the defence will not manifest itself.”
Earlier this week a report seen by TV Globo confirmed that the liquid found in the woman’s home was actually saline, not a vaccine.
Last a week an investigation into Saritur was launched, a company owned by Rômulo and Robson Lessa that controls most transport companies in the Belo Horizonte region, suspected of being involved in illegal vaccinations.
The operation was launched after a report from Piauí magazine, published on March 24, revealed footage of the illegal vaccination of businessmen and politicians in one of the company garages run by the Lessa brothers.
During a search in the garage and the businessmen’s homes, police seized phones, computers and documents, including a list of 57 names of people who would have been illegally vaccinated.
The two brothers testified to the Federal Police on March 29.
The woman’s son Igor Torres, and son-in-law are also suspected to be involved in the scam and are believed to have been receiving the payments for the vaccines.
If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison.
Cops are now investigating the origin of the vaccines sold, to determine whether they are actually falsified or imported illegally.
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