The SSU Cyber Security Department has exposed a multimillion scheme of tax evasion by a Ukrainian company. According to preliminary estimates, the value of its unrecorded operations in the last 18 months is at least UAH 200 million (USD 7 mln).

The illicit tax minimization scheme involved tampering with cash registers. The company’s IT specialists set them up in such a way that they did not send data on part of the transactions to the State Tax Service of Ukraine.

These ‘modified’ cash registers were installed in shopping centers that sell excisable goods, including alcohol.

The investigators documented facts of purchasing goods and receiving receipts, which the State Tax Service did not receive. Therefore, no excise tax was charged on these transactions.

The offenders sent the data on the actual volume of transactions to servers under control of other members of the group in Ukraine and abroad.

During the searches in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, the investigators seized ‘modified’ cash registers and falsified fiscal documents, computers with evidence of illegal activity.

Criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 361 (unauthorized interference in the work of computers, automated systems, computer networks or telecommunication networks) of the CCU. The investigation is underway.

The SSU Cyber Department and the SSU Investigative Directorate carried out the operation under the supervision of Kyiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office with the assistance of the State Tax Service.