Restaurant owner zapped on electronic records fraud charge

Newswire: Aug. 3, 2017.

Dateline: Chicago.

A Chicago-area restaurateur is the first to be charged under an Illinois law prohibiting the software to falsify records and avoid paying sales taxes.

The owner is accused of using a “zapper” to cheat the state out of more than $100,000 in sales tax revenue. Zappers, according to a statement from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, delete business’ electronic recrods of cash sales transactions and then reconcile the data so that the reported sales match reported income.

Illinois specifically banned the use of sales supression software and devices in 2013. Madigan’s office said this is the first prosecution brought against zapper technology.

The owner of the restaurant is accused of using the zapper from January 2012 to October 2015, erasing $1 million in sales from what it reported to the Illinois Department of Revenue over that time.

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