Beware of fake purchasing order scam

Gardaí are warning businesses of a purchase order scam, following a spate of incidents in Cork recently. In this scam the fraudsters will attempt to order items from suppliers by providing them with a fake purchasing orders purporting to come from a legitimate and trusted buyer.

How does it work?

You, the supplier will receive an email from a fake domain, for example @companyname.com as opposed to the legitimate @companyname.ie requesting a quote for an item or number of items. This will then be followed up by a purchase order that will look almost identical to the one you would expect from the legitimate and trusted company. You are then asked to have the items delivered to an address in Ireland that is not affiliated with the legitimate company. If you are unfortunate enough to be fooled by this scam, you will never receive payment or see the items again.

How to identify the fraudulent emails:

• Incorrect email domain names are being used.
• The delivery address is not the actual address of the legitimate company in question.
• Emails are being written with poor grammar and spelling.
• Unusually large quantities of items are being ordered.
• Use of a fake phone number from the company.

If you receive any purchase orders that you are not 100% confident is coming from a trusted source it is highly recommended that you follow up the order with a phone call to the trusted company to confirm.

“Do not contact that name or number used on the email,” a spokesperson for the Gardaí said.

If you have received any suspicious emails please forward them to legitimate company and contact An Garda Síochana.