A €500,000 Dublin Scam Hits Capital’s Biggest Establishment Very Hard

The Sun is reporting that Dublin Zoo was the target of a cyber scam where criminals tried to seize €500,000. 

The publication confirmed that €370,000 of that amount had been frozen but the remainder is still missing.

The online crime gang targeted Dublin Zoo by hacking the official email account of a contractor who had been hired by the zoo for building work 

The scam is known as "invoice redirect" or "CEO fraud". 

This is where the criminals in question asked the people at Dublin Zoo to make future payments into a 'new bank account'.

A spokesman for Dublin Zoo said: “There was an incident but none of our customers have been affected. The matter is now under investigation by the Gardaí.”

Gardaí have released some information to the public about dealing with these types of scams.

They request that all staff involved in the payment of invoices should be made aware of how easy something like this can occur.

1. Check and be aware of any request to change or alter payment details. 
2. Review existing protocols in relation to the change of payment details, particularly where these requests are made in writing or by email.
3. All changes to payment details should be at least verified by phone or other means of personal contact to a known nominated person at the institution or company concerned on a phone number that the have verified as genuine.

You can find more information about this type of fraud on the An Garda Síochána website here. 

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