Accountant Embezzles 338 Million AMD from State and Banks in Yerevan: Preliminary Investigation Concluded

An accountant has embezzled 338 million AMD from the state and banks through online financial transaction fraud. This was reported by the Investigative Committee of Armenia.

The preliminary investigation into a particularly large-scale computer theft was concluded by the Cybercrime and High-Tech Crimes Investigation Division of the Investigative Committee of Armenia. As a result of extensive investigative and procedural actions, the mechanisms of the theft, the range of victims, and the extent of damages were clarified.

The investigation established that a 31-year-old resident of Yerevan, being an accountant and knowledgeable about Armenian tax legislation, had collaborated with a limited liability company whose activities had been temporarily suspended since December 2021, having access to the unified tax account of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) and the bank accounts of the LLC.

Taking advantage of a software glitch in the card system that ensured the normal operation of card transactions, he fraudulently transferred 998,000 AMD, which had been issued by a bank in Armenia in his name as part of a virtual bank card, into the SRC account for the mentioned LLC 29 times without any tax obligations, using the virtual 'POS' terminal software from one of the banks. As a result, a considerable tax overpayment of 25,320,000 AMD was created in the tax account of this LLC.

Subsequently, upon the individual’s application, the aforementioned amount was transferred from the SRC to the bank accounts of the LLC, which the 31-year-old male subsequently cashed and embezzled.

Additionally, during the period from January to November 2020, while providing accounting services to various registered entities in Armenia, he added himself to the electronic systems of several taxpayers as an online authorized representative. He then misrepresented the actual situation, making inaccurate adjustments in the income tax, corporate tax, value-added tax calculations, and import tax declarations submitted by the taxpayers, leading to the creation of overpayments for those taxpayers.

After forming these overpayments, he, acting on behalf of the taxpayers without their consent, submitted electronic applications to the SRC for the refund of overpayments, indicating his or associated individuals' and organizations' bank accounts. Through this method, during the aforementioned period, by making fraudulent adjustments in the reports of 56 taxpayers, he embezzled a total of 313,082,031 AMD belonging to the Republic of Armenia from the SRC’s unified account.

It is noted that during the preliminary investigation, the Republic of Armenia and two banks were recognized as victims. Based on the gathered evidence, charges have been filed against the 31-year-old man under Article 255, Part 3, Point 3 and Article 257, Part 3, Point 3 of the Armenian Criminal Code. He has been detained as a preventive measure. The preliminary investigation has concluded, and the materials of the case have been sent to the supervising prosecutor with a request to send them to court for the approval of the indictment.