The organisation made this known in a
statement on its website titled, ‘Unmasked: International COVID-19 fraud
exposed’.
According to the statement, the scheme was
coordinated using compromised emails, advance-payment fraud, and money
laundering.
It stated that the fraud was uncovered by
financial institutions and authorities across Germany, Ireland and the
Netherlands, as part of a case coordinated by INTERPOL.
The statement read in part, “In mid-March,
as a number of countries were going into lockdown due to the coronavirus
outbreak, German health authorities contracted two sales companies in Zurich
and Hamburg to procure EUR 15 million worth of face masks. With a global
shortage on medical supplies complicating usual business channels, the buyers
followed new leads in the hopes of securing the masks.
“It all started with an email address and
website which appeared to be linked to a legitimate company in Spain selling
face masks. Unbeknownst to the buyers, the site was a fake and their legitimate
email addresses had been compromised.
“Through email correspondence, the company
initially claimed to have 10 million masks, only for the delivery to fall
through. As consolation, they then referred the buyers to a ‘trusted’ dealer in
Ireland. The Irish middleman promised to put them in touch with a different
supplier, this time in the Netherlands.
“Claiming to have a strong commercial
relationship with the company, the man provided assurances that the alleged
Dutch company would be able to supply the 10 million face masks. An agreement
for an initial delivery of 1.5 million masks was made, in exchange for an
up-front payment of EUR 1.5 million.
“The buyers initiated a bank transfer to
Ireland and prepared for delivery, which involved 52 lorries and a police escort
to transport the masks from a warehouse in the Netherlands to the final
destination in Germany.
“Just before the delivery date, the buyers
were informed that the funds had not been received and that an emergency
transfer of EUR 880,000 straight to the Dutch supplier was required to secure
the merchandise.
“The buyers sent the wire transfer and the
masks never arrived. It turns out the Dutch company existed, but their website
had also been cloned. There was no official record of the order.
“When the buyers realized they had been
duped, they immediately contacted their bank in Germany, which in turn
contacted INTERPOL’s Financial Crimes unit, setting off a race to intercept the
funds and follow the money trail.
“The Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation
Service quickly tracked down the EUR 880,000 which had been transferred from
the German company. Nearly EUR 500,000 of those funds had already been sent to
the United Kingdom, all of which was destined for an account in Nigeria.”
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