Gardaí have issued a warning after local companies were targeted in an elaborate email scam.
It comes after an eagle-eyed accounts person in a Letterkenny company spotted the scam and alerted Gardai.
Gardai have said the scam is part of an overall attempt to defraud companies out of thousands of euro in cash.
The gang operate the scam by getting to know the name of the company’s CEO or managing director and then create a false email address using his or her name in the title.
They then get the contact details for the accounts officer of the company and pretend to be the company boss requesting a transfer of funds to a bank account in England.
The scam was noticed after the accountant from the Letterkenny company contacted the company CEO querying the request and discovered no such email had been sent by him.
Donegal’s Crime Prevention officer, Sgt Paul Wallace appealed to company accountants and financial controllers to be vigilant.
He said “Payments requests should be subject to careful screening and individual businesses are advised to have a clear policy in this regard.
The advice is simple. Emails that seek and request payments which targets business and arouses suspicion or concern should be reported to local Gardaí.”
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