Gardaí attached to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) have charged a man (aged in his 40s) who was arrested in February 2022 in relation to an invoice redirect fraud which occurred in December 2020.
In a statement, a Garda spokesperson said: “The man was arrested this morning, Wednesday 11th January 2023 in the Tallaght area and was taken to Tallaght Garda Station where he has since been charged.
“He is due to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice (Court 1) later today, Wednesday 11th January 2023.”
In December 2020, the GNECB received a report in which a person, who was living in Europe, was planning to purchase a residence in Ireland.
During the process, they had received an email from their solicitor which requested payment.
The victim subsequently sent a transfer in excess of €175,000 to the account number supplied.
In the following days, it was discovered that the solicitor’s email address had been hacked and the bank number supplied was not belonging to this solicitor.
GNECB made enquires with the banks and successfully managed to freeze and retrieve all of the money, which was then returned to the victim.