Gardaí is working with Interpol to track down UK-based fraudsters suspected of stealing more than €100,000 from the University of Limerick (UL) last year.
The university was the victim of a bill redirection fraud involving unknown fraudsters. A total of €101,949 was stolen during the incident.
Invoice redirection fraud typically involves criminals sending invoices claiming to represent a known supplier or business partner. This incentivizes organizations to deposit money into accounts controlled by criminals.
Details of the crime emerged after emails between UL and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) were released under freedom of information laws. UL wrote to the HEA last July to say the fraud had been reported to gardaí. In follow-up correspondence, UL told the authority it was also working with Bank of Ireland as the investigation continued. He said the bank reimbursed UL for the full amount taken in the fraud.
A Garda spokesperson said the stolen money was tracked to an out-of-state bank account.
“Gardaí has contacted Interpol about this. A request has been made to transfer the investigation to the jurisdiction in which the crime is alleged to have been committed,” he added.
The culprits are suspected to be based in the UK.
Bank of Ireland said it could not comment on individual cases, but it advises businesses “to remain on heightened alert against fraudsters”, to check that emails are genuine and “to be wary of urgent requests which do not follow normal company procedures.
They said customers should notify the bank immediately of suspicious emails or if they believe they have been the victim of fraud.
The university said steps had been taken to prevent a similar occurrence. Eight recommendations have since been made to UL by its anti-fraud group. Five of them have been fully implemented and changes to address the other three are underway.
UL said these require “systems development work, IT security awareness for new staff when they come on board, and vendor volume reduction” to be implemented through an annual vendor reduction. .
During this time, finance staff completed security awareness training, mandatory for all university staff, and participated in a workshop to address lessons learned after the incident.
