Invoice fraud alert issued by gardaí

GARDÁÍ have issued a warning about the increasing prevalence of invoice redirection fraud.

IRF is a crime targeting businesses working with suppliers and businesses that regularly perform online transactions.

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, to bank account details that ultimately benefit the criminals.

These requests can also come by way of letter or phone call so caution should attach to 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banking instructions and sends the payment to the criminal’s bank account where the funds are quickly transferred or withdrawn.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 for payment.

Detective Chief Patrick Lordan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau has warned businesses large and small to be vigilant.

“While all cases are different, we want to warn that all Irish companies big and small are being targeted on a daily basis by individuals purporting to being from their suppliers. These individuals will inform the company that their bank details have changed for payment of services so we would ask that companies only change their bank details through direct contact and not by email. The best thing to do is pick up the phone and talk to someone you know in the company,” he said.