Fake invoice scam busted in Bengaluru after tax officials raid scrap dealers
Raids were carried out against 86 vendors by the Karnataka Commercial Taxes Department of Bengaluru South Zone and an organised network using fake invoices to avail ITC was busted.
According to C Shikha, Commissioner, Commercial Taxes Department, the raids were carried out after a two-month-long investigation involving vendors who deal in iron and scrap.
The vendors faked invoices of business transactions in excess of Rs 352 crore and used fake ITC claims worth Rs 64 crore to cheat the government.
The fraudsters had a unique modus operandi to defraud the government. They made use of GST numbers whose registration was either suspended or cancelled to generate fake invoices.
“These invoices were used to claim ITC refunds, thereby cheating the government. Apart from this, the vendors are accused of forging documents to register GST numbers for phoney businesses. These businesses were then used to generate fake invoices,” the department said in a statement.
In August this year, authorities had arrested two people for fraudulent transactions worth Rs 525 crore, leading to a revenue loss of Rs 90 crore to the government. The accused ran a syndicate to help human resource companies to claim ITC based on fake transactions and purchase orders.
