Report suspicious emails: If you have received any suspicious emails please forward them to legitimate company and contact An Garda Síochána.
What is the fraudulent purchase order scam?
Companies have recently been targeted by a series of fraudulent purchase order emails. This is a scam wherein fraudsters attempt to obtain equipment from suppliers by providing them with a fraudulent purchase orders.
The scam operates in the following way:
A supplier will receive an email requesting a quotation for specific item/s of equipment, often medical or I.T. equipment, and often in large quantities and of high value. Once the quotation has been provided, a purchase order is emailed to the supplier, which bears resemblance to an authentic purchase order of the relevant company. The purchase order typically instructs delivery to an address not affiliated with the company. After shipping the item/s of equipment, the supplier never receives payment and is unable to retrieve the shipped products.
How to identify the Fraudulent emails/POs:
• Incorrect domain names are used to send emails and purchase orders. The majority of Irish email addresses will always end in @company name.ie. An example of a fraudulent domain name being used is to use a genuine company name but to alter it to look similar. For example www.garda-.
• The delivery address is not the purchasing companies address. Fraudulent addresses will typically be a domestic residence or a self-storage facility, often based in Dublin, or other locations nowhere near company ordering the goods.
• Poorly written email with grammatical errors are always a sign of a suspicious email.
• Unusually large quantities are requested.
• Rush to ship priority/overnight
• Use of a false or unknown contact from the university. If requests are received from an unknown company contact that raises your suspicion, please contact the company direct to verify the validity of the request. Do not contact the name/number used on the email/purchase order. Please note fraudulent emails may contain seemingly legitimate contact information so it is important to look for other signs.
What you can do:
Confirm legitimacy: If you are unsure about a quotation request sent by email, or the subsequent purchase order, please contact the company for confirmation of its legitimacy.
