Nicosia based company defrauded of more than €120,000 via email scam
A company based in Nicosia has reported to police it was defrauded of more than €120,000 after receiving a scam email purporting to be from a foreign business partner.
According to the complaint filed on Tuesday by the company’s director, the firm received an email last November appearing to originate from a partner company abroad, claiming that its bank account details had changed.
The message instructed that future payments for goods be transferred to a new bank account, the details of which were included in the email.
Acting on the instructions, the Cypriot company made a series of payments between December and January 26, transferring a total of €123,943 to the specified account in another European country.
The fraud came to light when the company’s director contacted the partner firm on January 26 and was informed that no change to its bank details had been made.
The case is being investigated by the CID’s fraud branch.
Following the incident, police urged businesses and the public to verify any requests to change payment details by contacting partners directly before transferring funds.
They advise using established telephone numbers previously used in transactions or recorded in earlier correspondence, rather than relying on contact information provided in new messages.
Company owners and managers are also being encouraged to brief staff on this type of fraud and to introduce clear verification procedures for payment requests to prevent similar incidents.