In addition, the investigators froze 62 bank accounts with a total deposit of over 5.5 million euros, Europol announced on Thursday. However, the details are "preliminary investigation results" as part of "Operation Admiral 2". 

The network that has now been unearthed reportedly used the same methods and in some cases the same organization and infrastructure as perpetrators who were previously investigated as part of "Operation Admiral". The operations uncovered in November 2022 revolved around the largest VAT fraud ever uncovered in the EU. The damage from this is now estimated at 2.9 billion euros. 

This time, the suspects, who mainly come from the Baltic states, set up 15 companies in EU member states such as Austria. According to Europol, they sold popular electronic devices worth over 1.48 billion euros to end customers in the EU via online marketplaces. Although the end customers paid VAT on their purchases, the selling companies did not meet their tax obligations. 

Bogus companies "disappeared" after their work was done
By "disappearing" the bogus companies, the criminals avoided paying the tax debts to the respective national tax authorities. However, other companies in the fraudulent chain subsequently claimed VAT refunds from these national tax authorities, resulting in an estimated total VAT loss of 297 million euros.

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