Company loses €93,000 in fake email scam

Police said on Thursday they’re investigating the theft of some €93,000 from a Nicosia-based company, apparently tricked into making the payment by a fake email sent to it.

 The complaint was made to Nicosia CID.

 According to the complaint, filed by a representative of the company claiming to have been scammed, on January 21 the company received an email from a business partner asking for the payment of an invoice regarding the provision of services rendered.

The genuine email cited a bank account number to which the funds should be transferred.

Later, on March 3, the company received another email, purporting to be from the same business partner. This email indicated a different bank account for the wire transfer.

As a result, the company transferred the amount of €93,200 to the account mentioned in the second email. The company subsequently discovered they had been defrauded.

Police are advising companies and their staff to always verify over the phone when receiving demands for payments received by email.

Companies should also check that the phone number of their business partner is legitimate and is the same as that used in prior communications.