Britain’s tax office has seized three non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as part of a suspected VAT fraud case worth £1.4m involving 250 fake companies.
HM Revenue and Customs, the department’s official name, on Monday said it had seized the NFTs and arrested three people on suspicion of fraud.
The suspects allegedly tried to claim back more VAT than what they were owed, using a mix of stolen identities, unregistered phones and false invoices to hide their identities. It is the first time a UK law enforcement agency has seized an NFT.
Nick Sharp, HMRC’s deputy director, economic crime, said the seizure “serves as a warning to anyone who thinks they can use crypto assets to hide money”.
HMRC said it had secured a court order to seize the three digital artwork NFTs, which have not yet been valued, and other crypto assets worth about £5,000.
The suspects are alleged to have used “sophisticated methods to try to hide their identities including false and stolen identities”, HMRC said.
NFTs are unique digital tokens that first appeared in 2014 and can be bought and sold in crypto or traditional currencies but which have no tangible form of their own.