FOI NFT Crimes (0509-2022/23)

Request

1) How many investigations has your force conducted on crimes involving the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from 1st January 2019 to 31st August 2022?

2) How many investigators in your force are trained in crimes relating to NFTs?

3) Do you have any written procedures or guidance for investigators who may deal with crimes relating to NFTs?

Response

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that part of the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.

1) North Yorkshire Police will neither confirm nor deny whether relevant information is held pursuant to sections s30(3) Investigations and s31(3) Law Enforcement of the FOIA 2000.

2) North Yorkshire Police will neither confirm nor deny whether relevant information is held pursuant to sections 23(5) Security Bodies and s31(3) Law Enforcement of the FOIA 2000.

3) I can advise that North Yorkshire Police do not have specific NFT related written procedures or guidance documents.

Exemptions Explained

Section 31(3) – Law Enforcement & Section 30(3) – Investigations and Proceedings

Harm

Freedom of information is considered a broadcast to the world, and is not a private transaction between the requestor and the public authority in question. As such, all public bodies, including North Yorkshire Police take into consideration any negative effects that may arise in response to conforming with s1(1) of the FOIA.

In respect of the information requested at Question 2, it is accurate to suggest that financial crime including money laundering through the use of digital assets is an accelerating area of criminality. It can involve vast amounts of currency, and is often associated or linked to organised crime gangs. And as reported in the media, such as the link below to the BBC, NFTs are one such digital asset that criminals will exploit:

HMRC seizes NFT for first time in £1.4m fraud case - BBC News

All police forces are alert to new and emerging crime trends involving digital assets. However, to confirm or deny North Yorkshire Police has investigators trained to detect crimes in respect of Non-Fungible Tokens specifically would reveal the size of the force capability, or lack thereof in this specialised and highly technical sector of financial crime. At a National Level confirming or denying whether statistical information is held force by force risks creating a mosaic effect, potentially exposing regions to the increase of financial crime if criminals were to perceive that the likelihood of being detected is greater or lesser place to place.

Factors favouring disclosure

Confirming whether North Yorkshire Police has seized digital assets in the form of Non-fungible tokens would be of interest to the public as it is a fairly new type of asset, it would allow the public confidence that the force had processes in place to solve crimes involving such assets and widen public discussion on these matters, or conversely, allow scrutiny of the publicly funded authority that may not have resources in place to counter this aspect of crime.

There is public interest in forces having trained investigators commensurate to the task of detecting all aspects of financial crime.

Factors against disclosure

It is widely recognised that criminals use digital assets to take advantage from the perceived anonymity for illicit purposes.

It is accepted that there has been information previously released into the public domain that confirms seizure of digital assets, such as Cryptocurrency, under law enforcement powers. However, a motivated actor with the right tools can use this information, using methods that map out exactly where the assets may have originated from, confirming that they have been seized and that criminality had been identified. Therefore there exists a risk of forewarning criminals which in turn could jeopardise any ongoing investigations if there are outstanding suspects or assets that have yet to be seized or restrained.

Measures are put in place to protect the community we serve and as evidenced within the harm, to confirm or deny whether North Yorkshire Police has investigators capable of investigating this highly technical area of financial crime would allow criminals to use the information with a view to maximising any opportunity to avoid detection, either by targeting North Yorkshire Police area or any other police force nationally.

Balance

Taking into account the security climate within the United Kingdom, and the sensitive nature of criminal investigations, no information which may aid criminality should be disclosed. It is clear that it would have an impact on a Force’s ability to carry out the core duty of enforcing the law and serving the community whilst also negatively impacting any on-going investigations.

The public entrust the Police Service to make appropriate decisions with regard to their safety and protection and the only way of reducing risk is to be cautious with what is placed into the public domain.

Therefore, on balance, I determine that the engaged exemptions should be maintained.

Section 23(5) – Information Supplied by, or Relating to, Bodies Dealing with Security Matters

Section 23 is an absolute class-based exemption therefore I am not required to articulate the harm or the public interest in the confirmation or denial of information being held.

Confirming or denying the existence of whether any other information is held would contravene the constrictions laid out within Section 23 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in that this stipulates a generic bar on disclosure of any information applied by, or concerning Security Bodies.  

To give a statement of the reasons why neither confirming nor denying is appropriate in this case would itself involve the disclosure of exempt information, therefore under S17(4), no explanation can be given.

To the extent that S23 applies, North Yorkshire Police have determined that in all circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exclusion of the duty to neither confirm nor deny outweighs the public interest in confirming whether or not the information is held.

Pursuant to section 17(4) this letter acts as a partial refusal notice.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.