Watch It Burn
Two scammers, a web of betrayal, and Europe’s fraud of the century.
via The Atavist Magazine: http://magazine.atavist.com/watch-it-burn-france-europe-carbon-fraud-scam-vat-betrayal/
Unlike VAT fraud with mobile phones, no empty vans were required. The carbon market rendered even the pretense of real-world trade unnecessary because its product was an absence, an unemitted ton of gas. All someone needed to exploit the system was a good internet connection that allowed them to make trade after trade among the entities in their carousel. As one scammer told me, “It was easier than sending an email.”