In the past five months commercial customers of banks countrywide have been targeted by a criminal gang attempting to transact the fraudulent transfer abroad of money from business accounts.
The criminals pretend to be the account holders and send forged documents to bank branches instructing them to transfer funds to other jurisdictions. Those targeted by the criminals included several charitable organisations, and companies that have international business.
An investigation was established by the Cheque and Payment Card Unit Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation into this activity.
Direct action by this investigation assisted in the recovery of €160,000 taken from the account of a well known charity in September and also prevented attempts to steal to in the region of €1.3m during the month of September alone.
A search operation was put in place for the morning of October 13th for suspected addresses in Drogheda and Galway. At the Drogheda address, members of the GBFI and Drogheda Detective Unit found forged documentation used to perpetrate a number of the frauds. In addition a number of high spec items of equipment used to manufacture counterfeit credit cards, and numerous business cheques and cheque books were also found. The cheques and cheque books would appear to have been stolen from the postal system in Ireland and the UK.
Two people were arrested in Drogheda (a 32 year old male and a 28 year old female) and one in Galway (34 male) and they were detained in Drogheda and Balbriggan Garda Stations. All three are Zimbabwean nationals. They were detained under the provisions of Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007.
Michael Tuzuka, 32 years of Park Square, Grange Rath, Drogheda appeared before Drogheda District Court on Friday morning, the 15th October 2010. He was charged under Section 29 Criminal Justice Fraud Offences Act 2001: Possession of Counterfeiting equipment; Section 17 Criminal Justice Fraud Offences Act 2001: Handling Stolen Property. (Stolen Cheques); as well as Theft and Attempted Theft.
The other two people arrested were released without charge and a file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to their activity. The investigation is ongoing.
The Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation have co-ordinated the implementation of agreed measures between businesses and financial institutions that in recent days thwarted attempts by the suspects to initiate further fraudulent transfers. These measures are being monitored by industry and GBFI and will be modified as necessary to ensure that this activity is prevented and any criminals suspected to have been involved arrested and prosecuted.
Garda Press Office.
