HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK tax authority, have seized 3 NFTs as part of a larger VAT fraud investigation that involved 250 alleged fake companies, BBC reported. Three people have already been arrested on suspicion of attempting to defraud HMRC of £1.4 million ($1.9 million USD).
HMRC said that the suspects used “sophisticated methods” to hide their identities, such as false addresses and identities and pre-paid cell phones.
In a first for UK law enforcement, authorities secured a court order and seized the suspects’ NFTs. The three NFTs have yet to be valued. Authorities also took cryptocurrency assets worth about £5,000 ($6,757 USD).
Deputy director of economic crime Nick Sharp told BBC that the first-ever NFT seizure “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,” he continued.
In other tech news, Coinbase’s QR code Super Bowl commercial briefly crashed its website and app.
wazup.