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Gardaí warn of Invoice Redirect Fraud 11.11.19

AN Garda Síochána wishes to warn businesses in Inishowen of the continuing existence of Invoice Redirect Fraud and urges companies to treat any request to change bank account details with extreme caution.
In recent weeks there has been a noticeable increase in this type of crime. Criminals have succeeded in defrauding companies of substantial amounts of money: One company in Ireland lost over €200,000, another lost almost $500,000 and many businesses have lost smaller amounts of money.
An Garda Síochána warn businesses in Inishowen of the continuing existence of Invoice Redirect Fraud.
In crimes of this nature, criminals send emails to businesses/individuals purporting to be one of their legitimate suppliers. These emails contain a request to change the bank account details that the business has for a the supplier, to bank accounts controlled by the criminals. These requests can also come by way of a letter or phone call so caution should be taken with any request of this nature.
The criminal intention is that when the legitimate supplier next sends an invoice to the company seeking payment for services rendered or goods supplied, the victim business acts on the new banking instructions and sends the payment to the criminal’s bank account where the funds are quickly transferred or withdrawn. In many instances the business does not know it is a victim of this crime until sometime later when the legitimate supplier sends a reminder invoice for payment
Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Lordan, of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau had the following advice for businesses, ‘Victims of Invoice Redirect Fraud range from very small businesses to large companies and the consequences of falling for a scam of this nature can be catastrophic and result in the closure of businesses and redundancies. If you are not sure pick up the phone and speak to someone in the invoicing company.’
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