The SSU exposed the offenders who counterfeited and tried to use a ‘document signed by the chief of the SSU Cyber Department’ to ‘unfreeze’ previously blocked fictitious enterprises. The fraudsters aimed to resume the work of the conversion center, which caused monthly losses to the state budget of UAH 20 mln (USD 720,000).

Earlier, this conversion center was engaged in VAT fraud and tax minimization by carrying out fictitious business transactions.

Due to the SSU efforts, the State Tax Service blocked this activity by including the entity in the list of risky enterprises.

One of the fraudsters was notified of suspicion of crime under Article 358 of the CCU (forgery of documents, seals, stamps and forms, sale or use of forged documents, seals, stamps).

Later, the offenders attempted to ‘unblock’ the conversion center. To do this, they counterfeited the SSU documents and submitted them to the regional Tax Service branch to exclude the controlled companies from the list of risky enterprises.

The SSU uncovered these unlawful actions and identified the individuals involved.

According to the investigation, the unlawful activity was organized by heads of several commercial entities. The offenders entered invalid data into reporting documentation and the Unified Register of Tax Invoices.

The pre-trial investigation is underway to bring to justice others involved.

The SSU Cyber ​​Department carried out the operation with the assistance from the State Tax Service under the supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The SSU has been working systematically in this direction. In July 2020, the SSU Cyber Department dismantled a tax fraud scheme, which caused losses to the state of UAH 2 bln (USD 72 mln) per month.