In Britain 5 fraudsters who pretended to be making a Hollywood blockbuster as part of tax scam have been jailed. The fake film-makers from across the UK claimed they had the support of several Hollywood A-listers.

But Revenue and Customs got suspicious of the project called 'Landscape of Lies'. So the fraudsters actually went ahead with a low-budget film to try and cover their tracks.

That production went on to win a prize at the 2012 Las Vegas Film Festival.

The group had told inspectors that A-listers would be starring in the stg£19.6 million production. They were able to claim nearly stg£3 million in in VAT and tax credits designed to help genuine British filmmakers.

Footage of "completely unusable quality"

But officials grew suspicious when the only footage produced was 7 minutes of "completely unusable quality", the court heard.

To cover their tracks, the fraudsters quickly set about making a film on a shoestring budget of £84,000 called A Landscape of Lies, drafting in unwitting actors and filmmakers.

The Judge May said the fraud had been based on an "entirely bogus film project".

Head of investigations with HM Revenue & Customs is Donald Toon.