On Thursday, four suspects were placed under arrest warrant by the investigating judge. They are said to have helped candidates in the two Brussels exam centers to answer questions for the theoretical exam using a hidden camera and earpiece. BRUZZ heard this from a good source. In addition, the investigation also investigated the distribution of false certificates in order to obtain a provisional driver’s license.
The OCRC (Central Office for the Fight against Corruption) of the Federal Judicial Police has been conducting a judicial investigation for some time into a network involved in corruption and the issuance of false documents to obtain a driver’s license. In that investigation, house searches were carried out on Tuesday in the Brussels and Flemish Regions, including at a number of driving schools. About ten people were arrested and four of them were eventually placed under arrest warrant by the investigating judge.
According to a source close to the case, the investigation concerns, among other things, fraud within the two Brussels exam centers in Evere and Anderlecht. The fraudsters gave answers to candidates for the theoretical exam who showed them the questions with a small camera. These often concern candidates with an Arabic background who do not speak the national languages, but need a driver’s license for their job, the source said.
Two of the suspects arrested on Tuesday are said to have already recruited customers for this business. In addition, there were also suspects among the staff of one of the exam centers, but it is currently unclear whether employees actually cooperated in the scam.
Certificates
In addition to cheating during the theoretical driving exams, the action on Tuesday also sought the distribution of false certificates or attestations to obtain a driving license or provisional driving licence. Whether anything was found about this is also unclear for the time being. The investigation is still ongoing.
It is already clear that fraud is taking place in Brussels with false certificates and certificates. “We have had a lot of trouble with it in recent months,” Laeticia Dias, employee of Auto-école Contact Plus in Schaarbeek, tells BRUZZ. “There was one month where we even had five or six cases.”
The stamp and logo of the driving school are usually used falsely. For example, fraudsters can pretend at an exam center that they have completed the required number of hours of driving lessons at the driving school to gain direct access to a practical exam. Another method is to pretend to the driving school that the exam center refused the proof of their lesson and ask for a copy.
According to Dias, the scam is often very transparent. “There are errors in their documents or the fraudsters are careless by, for example, using the logo of our Schaarbeek branch, but registering the driving lessons – which were allegedly taken – at a different location. We will then immediately notify the police.”
The driving school also recently changed its stamp and recently added a QR code to certificates to prevent fraud.
Lucrative
Dias cannot tell what kind of criminals are behind the trade in false driving documents. “We were only explained that there are groups on Snapchat that you can contact to deliver false documents. In one case we also received information about the price: it concerned someone who had paid more for a certificate of six hours of driving lessons than the lessons actually cost.”
The fact that driving license fraud can be a lucrative business is also evident from the prison sentences and fines imposed on five men in Antwerp on Friday. They cheated on theoretical driving tests throughout the country, including in Brussels. Between 2019 and 2021, they helped at least eight people take their theoretical driving test for a fee using a hidden camera and an earpiece. The fraudsters asked at least 1,500 euros for their “service”.
This article is originally published on bruzz.be
