HMRC sting sees £500K tax scammer jailed
Taxman's investigation leads to self-assessment scammer receiving three-and-a-half year prison sentence
A self-assessment fraudster who fleeced the UK of £500,000 has been jailed
for three and a half years, following an HM Revenue & Customs probe.
Dmytro Shepel, 25, registered 350 fictitious people on the Self Assessment
tax system.
False tax repayment claims were then made for 218 of these cases. In total he
tried to steal almost £650,000 of taxpayers’ money, HMRC said.
Shepel had been living in the UK under a false Lithuanian identity and his
fake passport was used to open 74 bank accounts over two years, which then
received a number of fraudulent repayments.
When HMRC officers raided Shepel’s address they found diaries and documents
containing lists of fake identities used to fraudulently reclaim tax rebates as
well as blank Self Assessment registration forms.
Officers found fake identities and bank account details in Shepel’s mobile
phone memory. When checked, these bank accounts had been used to receive
thousands of pounds of fake repayment cash.
Simon Grunwell, assistant director of HMRC Criminal Investigations, said:
“This was a criminal plot which deprived the nation’s public services of
hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“We are determined to stop those involved in this type of criminal activity
and bring them before the courts.”
Further reading:
Accountant
jailed for £1.3m fraud