The UK’s HMRC is thought to be one of the first UK agencies to seize some NFTs (Non-Fungible Token) as part of a £1.4 million fraud case.
Criminals have been turning to cryptocurrency and NFTs to hide assets, but law enforcement agencies are able to track these assets down.
This is thought to be one of the first seizures of NFTs in the UK as part of a criminal case, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have arrested three people who have attempted to defraud it of £1.4 million.
The three individuals apparently used around 250 fake companies as part of a VAT fraud of around £1.4 million. The HMRC has said that they attempted to use ‘sophisticated methods’ to try and hide their identities. This includes VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) fake invoices, unregistered pre-paid mobile phones and more to hide their crime and their identities.
Nick Sharp, deputy director economic crime, said the first seizure of an NFT “serves as a warning to anyone who thinks they can use crypto assets to hide money from HMRC”.
“We constantly adapt to new technology to ensure we keep pace with how criminals and evaders look to conceal their assets.”
They managed to get a court order to seize £5,000 in cryptocurrency and three NFTs from the individuals, it is not clear as yet how much the NFTs were worth.
Source BBC
Image Credit: Karolina Grabowska
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