Fraudsters beware! To be caught with a forged Covid certificate is now officially a criminal crime. On Tuesday, Ukrainian lawmakers amended Criminal code introducing  harsh penalties for such offense.

Under the new legislation,  people found forging, selling, and using fake vaccination documents can be hit with up to 170 thousand hryvnas in fines and three years in prison.

The new policy comes in response to the growing number of such crimes in Ukraine.

Vaccinated Ukrainians can get an official Covid certificate digitally through Diya app, download  online and print it. The document or its digital copy must be produced on entering state and regional government offices, shopping malls, bars, cafes, sport and recreational facilities, on trains and buses.

According to Ukrainian police chief Ihor Klymenko, cops are authorized to run only random checks of QR codes, while regular checks of Covid document are now the  routine job of state health officials, staff of rail and air operators, shops and hospitality businesses.

Earlier this month, Poland border control said they nabbed over  500 Ukrainians with fake Covid certificates.