The operation led to the arrest of three citizens. The suspects had created at least 250 fake companies.
The UK tax authority has moved to approach non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Three NFTs and at least $6,000 in cryptocurrencies got seized.
According to investigations led by the government agency, three British citizens reportedly tried to defraud the IRS out of £1.4 million. Those involved got also placed under arrest for alleged fraud.
The suspects had created a scheme involving 250 companies and false identifications, false addresses, unregistered prepaid mobile phones, virtual private networks (VPN), as well as false invoices; all to avoid paying taxes, according to the BBC news agency
The authorities applied the seizures to warn those who intend to evade taxes or launder money through the collectibles. Nick Sharp, deputy director of economic crime, highlighted that they are constantly learning about new technology to update their teams on how criminals and evaders get to hide their assets.
These Coins Came from Illegal Procedures in that Country in the Last Five Years
Although the authorities did not reveal how the scammers did confiscate the NFTs, they explained that they did seize assets related to cryptocurrencies before. Last January, the police reported the seizure of at least 9,000 BTC.
The United Kingdom has been strengthening the regulation procedures of the cryptocurrency industry in various areas of the sector. The most recent was the ban on advertising linked to a football team’s fan token for taking advantage of consumers’ inexperience or gullibility.
The country did the same with bitcoin advertising deployed throughout the London transport network, considering them misleading.
The United States of America is Already Worried About Money Laundering with NFTs
A few days ago, the Treasury Department expressed concern about using art in NFT format to carry out money laundering activities. According to the US authorities, the collectibles could serve that purpose; it is the method traditional art has historically been doing for years.
The authorities think it is easier to move digital art than traditional art. In this sense, they presented a series of regulatory measures for the NFT sector.
One of these measures implements VASPs (Virtual Asset Service Providers) to these networks, which would make any user who desires to register and use it go through an identity verification procedure.
It is worth considering that NFTs are some kind of cryptographic token that represents a unique asset, unrepeatable and limited. Ethereum is the blockchain that counts on the most prominent market for non-fungible tokens.
By: Jenson Nuñez
