Gardai have described the arrest of a man as “extremely significant” as they aim to dismantle an organised crime gang involved in laundering over €10m of invoice re-direct fraud funds through Irish bank accounts. While 15 arrests have now been made so far as part of Operation SKEIN, the GNECB have identified 90 suspects resident in Ireland and are satisfied that €10m has been laundered through Irish bank accounts. Invoice redirection fraud happens when a person or a business fall prey to requests, purporting to emanate from trusted suppliers or service providers, into believing that a beneficiary’s bank account details have been changed. As a result, funds that are due to be paid out are transferred to a fraudulent account known as a money mule account. Often the fraudsters use students' and young people's bank account details by offering them a fee to allow use of their accounts for a few days.

Source: Irish Independent March 15, 2021 16:18 UTC