Gardaí have issued a warning to the public following recent incidents where people have fallen victim to fraud.
Crime Prevention Officer for Clare, Sergeant Catriona Holohan said: “This week a number of incidents of fraud were reported to An Garda Síochána. I think it’s really important that we mention this crime when it occurs because the techniques and methods used by perpetrators is evolving and changing and people need to be aware of what these scams look like.”
“One 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.
A second incident occurred where the victim received a call on their mobile phone. They believed the caller to be from a financial institution. They provided the caller with security codes and money was subsequently stolen from their account,” Sgt Holohan said.
Regarding our first incident, this is known as CEO Fraud. How do companies and businesses prevent this crime occurring?
- 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.