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Voip Mtic - The Italian Job (Operazione 'Phuncards-Broker'), Richard Thompson Ainsworth
Voip Mtic - The Italian Job (Operazione 'Phuncards-Broker'), Richard Thompson Ainsworth
Faculty Scholarship
On February 8, 2010 a speculative paper on the likelihood that fraudsters proficient in missing trader intra-community (MTIC) fraud might move into voice over internet protocol (VoIP) was submitted to the Boston University School of Law Working Paper Series.
Prior to that paper there was very little (if any) public discussion of VoIP MTIC. There were no assessments, no arrests, and not a hint of litigation. Fifteen days later, and before final publication the financial press exploded with coverage of a massive VoIP MTIC fraud (the Operazione “phuncards-broker” investigation). The Wall Street Journal reported: An [Italian] judge…ordered the arrest of …
Mtic (Vat Fraud) In Voip - Market Size $3.3b, Richard Thompson Ainsworth
Mtic (Vat Fraud) In Voip - Market Size $3.3b, Richard Thompson Ainsworth
Faculty Scholarship
In the beginning, the VAT fraud known as missing trader intra-community (MTIC) fraud appeared to be a UK problem concentrated in the cell phone and computer chip markets. MTIC has mutated (to other commodities) and migrated (to other Member States). This paper describes how this fraud operates in the VoIP market, and how in this mutation it is no longer confined to the EU, but can infiltrate any VAT/GST anywhere.
Canada, Botswana, Japan, Iceland and Jamaica (to mention a few jurisdictions) have consumption taxes that are just as vulnerable as is the EU VAT to VoIP missing trader fraud. It …
Zappers - Retail Vat Fraud, Richard Thompson Ainsworth
Zappers - Retail Vat Fraud, Richard Thompson Ainsworth
Faculty Scholarship
Zappers skim cash sales at retail. Zappers are add-on programs used by merchants with electronic cash registers (ECRs) or point-of-sale (POS) systems. Zappers are smart and selective. They do not skim all sales, and they never skim credit card transactions.
Although they are present in every jurisdiction, Zappers appear to be most widely used in developed economies that combine high levels of cash sales with high rates of consumption tax. Sweden, for example, has a cash-intensive economy, one of the world’s highest VAT rates (25%), and also reports that 70% of the ECRs in the country are either “… constructed …