The non-fungible token market is filled with shady dealings, and British authorities hope to scrub them up. BBC News reports HM Revenue and Customs has seized three NFTs as a part of investigation into potential tax fraud. The suspects allegedly used 250 pretend corporations, false identities, pay as you go telephones, VPNs and different strategies to cover themselves as they sought to defraud the UK tax workplace of £1.4 million (practically $1.9 million).

HMRC obtained a court docket order to take the unvalued NFTs in addition to crypto belongings price roughly £5,000 ($6,760). This is the primary time UK legislation enforcement has seized NFTs, the authority mentioned.

The investigation remains to be ongoing. However, financial crime deputy director Nick Sharp believed the seizures would “serve as a warning” to different would-be crypto fraud perpetrators.

The lack of laws and different protections round NFTs has led to important issues with fraud and scams, together with self-sales to spice up costs (aka wash buying and selling) and pretend or plagiarized tokens. Cent lately halted most transactions attributable to “rampant” gross sales of bogus tokens, whereas market large OpenSea has been scrambling to develop safeguards after 80 p.c of NFTs minted by means of a free device had been found to be fakes, copies or spam. Don’t be shocked if there are extra seizures like this one, no less than till NFT market homeowners have extra methods to discourage fraud and different dangerous actions.