“It was easy, I returned fictitious traffic numbers and the site was accepted.” Fraudsters of the Covid solidarity fund in court.

Marseille (Bouche-du-Rhone)

On their scale, the two defendants who appeared before the Marseille Criminal Court on Monday represent just a drop in the ocean of Covid compensation fraud. But, since the famous application of “at all costs” announced by Emmanuel Macron in the spring of 2020, the state has taken into account: In 2020 and 2021, €36 billion was thus paid for the Solidarity Fund alone. And its tax services have started tracking fraudsters.

Faced with an avalanche of requests for help, the tax administration has repeatedly requested supporting documents and often sounded its alarms. In 2021, it thus referred more than 2,500 cases to justice for solidarity fund fraud. An easy-to-activate financial aid device that has led some like Yasin B. and Danil S. to take advantage of the windfall without hesitation. “It was easy explains the first, 32 year old father. I was going home…