Clare gardaí issue warning over 'CEO fraud' email scams
A number of fraud incidents were reported to gardaí in recent days
An Garda Síochána have received a number of reports of incidents of fraud in recent days, according to Clare Crime Prevention Officer Catriona Holohan
One incident occurred where the victim received a call on their mobile phone which they believed to be from a financial institution.
They provided the caller with security codes and money was subsequently stolen from their account.
Another incident involved a situation where an employee received an email which they believed to be from their supervisor instructing them to purchase a number of vouchers.
This type of scam is known as CEO fraud.
Companies and businesses can prevent this type of crime from occurring by taking a number of steps:
• Training is a key element to avoiding this type of fraud by educating both CEO’s, senior executives and staff about emails or communications of this nature.
• Staff should be empowered to question requests of this nature.
• Companies should have very clear policies and procedures in place, known to all employees for verifying payment transfers or high level requests from senior management.
• The use of additional verification processes should be utilised by employees as a matter of course. A phone call to the CEO to assist in confirming the transaction or a visual communication should be mandatory.