Fraud squad officers called as scam drains council of €500k

GARDAÍ have launched an investigation after a county council was defrauded of more than €500,000.

In a statement, Westmeath County Council said it had been the victim of a scam and that fraud squad officers are now probing the incident.

It is understood this fraud occurred in January and involved multiple payments to a single supplier.

Specialist advisers have been drafted in by Irish Public Bodies Insurance, an organisation which insures councils across the country.

Sources have told the Irish Daily Mail that it is suspected that one legitimate supplier’s name had been used to request funds to a new bank account – a crime called invoice redirect fraud.

A spokesperson for the council said: ‘Westmeath County Council confirms that it has recently been the subject of a payment fraud (initiated by a third party) in the amount of approximately €515,000. As soon as the council became aware of the matter, it immediately contacted An Garda Síochána and engaged the services of specialist advisers.’

In crimes of this nature, criminals send emails to businesses purporting to be one of their legitimate suppliers.

These emails contain an instruction to change the bank account details that the business has for a legitimate supplier, amending them to details that ultimately benefit the criminals. These requests can also come by way of a letter or phone call so caution is advised over 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banking instructions and sends the payment to the criminal’s bank account, where the funds are quickly transferred or withdrawn.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 later when the legitimate supplier sends a reminder invoice.