1,800 AirPods, luxury cars seized as part of $92 million fraud scheme, European cops say
Law enforcement agents in several European countries investigated a fraud scheme worth $92 million, arrested a suspect and confiscated 1,800 AirPods linked to the scheme, according to officials.
Police investigated two groups suspected of evading taxes and claiming fraudulent tax reimbursements, according to a Nov. 27 news release from Europol, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation.
The “complex criminal scheme” focused on buying and selling AirPods through a “fraudulent chain” of companies within the European Union and outside of it, police said. Companies involved in the scheme took advantage of EU trade rules on value-added taxes by either vanishing “without fulfilling their tax obligations” or fraudulently claiming tax reimbursements, the release said.
Police said the fraud amounted to 85 million euros, or about 92.7 million USD.
Law enforcement conducted 59 searches connected to the investigation on Nov 22, according to a Nov. 27 news release from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. The searches took place in eight countries.
Officials said they confiscated 1,800 AirPods; two luxury cars, a Porsche and Lamborghini; a luxury watch; cash and a jammer used “to scramble communications and to avoid detection.”
Police also arrested a “suspected ringleader” linked to the fraud scheme, Europol said. Officials did not release the suspect’s name or the charges they are facing.
The investigation involved law enforcement in Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, according to Europol.
This story was originally published November 30, 2023 at 9:04 AM with the headline "1,800 AirPods, luxury cars seized as part of $92 million fraud scheme, European cops say."
