Epidemic of fake sick notes as websites sell them for £25
FAKE sick notes are being sold online for as little as £25 as the number of people claiming to be too unwell to work surges to record levels.
The notes are almost identical to official documents used by GPS and are said to include functioning QR codes and links to government websites.
Notes sold on one website, Fast Med Notes, purport to entitle customers to up to seven months of statutory paid sick leave and benefits potentially worth thousands of pounds.
The site, which appears to have been registered in August 2023, offers to mark the notes with a recent date.
It says customers can “get a fake doctor’s note quickly and easily” with free home delivery within days, although it insists the notes are for “education/ entertainment” and says it cannot be held responsible for misuse.
So-called statements for “fitness to work” are virtually identical to the “fit notes” used widely by the NHS.
There are spaces on the documents for the name of a healthcare professional to be filled out. Only licensed medical professionals are legally allowed to issue declarations about a patient’s fitness to work after conducting an assessment of their condition.
Dr Udvitha Nandasoma, of the Medical Defence Union (MDU), which represents half of doctors, said the fake documents “serve only to add to the stress on GPS”.
Some 11 million absence notes were issued over the past year, an increase of one fifth compared with 2021. Doctors and legal professionals have previously been warned about a rise in the number of fake sick notes in circulation.
In 2016, the MDU said there were various websites offering advice on how to forge a sick note.
Doctorsnotestore, a site which previously offered fake sick notes, ceased operating in 2017 following the warnings. A notice on Doctorsnotestore says that the documents are not for official use and are “novelty items”.
Doctorsnotestore said it was no longer operating, but did not comment further. Fast Med Notes was approached for comment.