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Austria’s Amt für Betrugsbekämpfung (ABB) reported record results for 2024, recovering €107 million for the state treasury and dismantling 195 shell companies, according to its first full annual report since being established in 2021.
The agency, which consolidates tax and social fraud enforcement units within the Finance Ministry, completed 6,059 financial crime cases, inspected 26,644 businesses, and reviewed the employment of more than 53,000 workers. Authorities also executed 148 raids and secured 159.6 terabytes of digital evidence.
“Tax fraud is not a petty offense it’s an attack on our society,” said Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer. “There is no tolerance for those trying to escape their obligations. It’s about fairness and sustaining public trust in our tax system.”
Strategic Focus Areas: Construction, Digital Fraud, and Cross-Border Networks
ABB’s 2024 campaign focused heavily on construction, digital manipulation, and international VAT fraud:
- Construction sector abuses included falsified invoices, undeclared wages, and shadow accounting including a firm caught manipulating over 1.1 million data entries to conceal untaxed sales.
- In another case, a western Austrian construction executive was convicted for evading €3.45 million in taxes and falsifying evidence.
“Abuses spanned all industries,” said ABB Chair Christian Ackerler, “but especially hit the construction and service sectors from illegal employment to complex leasing frauds.”
Notable Cases: From Cash Registers to Canines
Some of 2024’s most unusual fraud schemes included:
- Software manipulation: A Vienna tech vendor sold POS systems that allowed restaurants to erase revenues or mask them as tips. Tax loss: €12.6 million. The vendor was fined €2 million and given a suspended sentence.
- Fake nonprofits: Two Austrians sold 26 sham associations to help buyers dodge taxes under the guise of “trainings.”
- Illegal dog breeding: A family-operated kennel evaded taxes on €1.42 million in income.
- Gold smuggling: A Viennese jeweler tried to cover €35,000 in back taxes by hiding unmarked gold bars, which were seized in a joint operation with customs.
- Illicit security operations: ABB uncovered black-market security guards at embassies and large concerts including suspected drug storage under diplomatic protection.
Online Gambling, International VAT Rings, and EPPO Investigations
Illegal gambling enforcement continued to expand, with 186 gaming machines seized and €1.9 million in fines proposed. One repeat offender was sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined €960,000.
ABB also collaborated with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) on transnational VAT fraud cases:
- A €195 million carousel fraud involving smartphones, electronics, and PPE across Europe.
- A €2.9 billion VAT fraud, the largest in EU history.
- Chinese online gaming platforms were found to have inflicted €198 million in tax damages.
Strengthening Digital and Global Enforcement
“The future of fraud is digital,” said State Secretary Barbara Eibinger-Miedl. “To keep up, Austria must continue expanding digital tools and international cooperation to ensure fair competition.”
ABB’s report emphasizes growing global coordination and the use of IT-driven intelligence systems tools that officials say are becoming essential in tackling evolving international fraud networks.
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