The Independent Authority for Public Revenue's auditors have discovered a sizable tax evasion ring through the trade in mobile phones.

The special account number of the AADE hit red and led them to two companies that were selling mobile phones and pocketing hundreds of millions of euros without declaring them.

After the logarithm alert, the auditors proceeded to triple-cross-check the data from the market place, through which the businesses made the sales, myDATA, and VIES, the system for intra-community transactions.

In 2017 and 2018, these businesses were declaring bogus intra-community transactions. That is, they were disposing of their products within Greece without issuing tax documents, while at the same time, by issuing virtual documents, they declared for the same products an intra-community delivery to warehouses, which they maintained outside Greece, thus avoiding VAT reimbursement.

Upon completion of the audit, the entities in question were charged taxes and fines totaling €54.2 million and €76 million, respectively.

A third company was also engaged in a similar practice, but on a much smaller scale. It was fined €320,000.

The audit is continuing both in the remaining operations of the three companies and in other companies selling mobile phones through market places and other platforms.