ATHENS – After violent protests against COVID-19 vaccinations, a wave of pandemic deniers using web sites and social media to spread lies about the virus  will see them investigated, including for allegedly scamming people for money.

Citizens’ Protection Minister Panagiotis Theodorikakos ordered the probe as the New Democracy government's campaign of trying to persuade people to be vaccinated has largely failed, seeing the Coronvirus and Delta Variant spreading.

The scrutiny, said Kathimerini, will also include looking into those encouraging vaccination denial and insubordination with health safety measures, pushing people to refuse to wear masks or stay safe social distances from each other.

The order was sent to the head of the police’s Department for Electronic Crime, Vassilis Papakostas, the paper said, for the Internet squad to find social media pages and groups who are suspected of disseminating information so a prosecutor can go after them.

“We need to investigate who is hiding behind these pages,” he told Antenna TV, referring to a fraud in which users are told that – for a fee – they can be protected from any legal consequences stemming from violations of Coronavirus protection rules, the skeptics seen gullible enough to fall for that ploy.