UK/German sting breaks VAT fraud gang
'Operation Sunrise' to result in arrests
Several arrests are due to be made in Germany following a joint operation
between British and Germans Customs officers, which disrupted a £111m VAT
‘carousel’ fraud ring.
German customs officers were also optimistic they could recover at least some
of the money lost to European taxpayers in the scam, The Guardian
reported.
The operation followed customs officers conducting a border operation on the
Swiss border which scanned 30,000 mobile phones into the Revenue’s Nemesis
database and tracking phones by their serial numbers to spot cross-border fraud.
It is estimated the VAT carousel fraud costs EU governments €50bn a year.