A note from Europol states that in mid-March, already in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic, the German health authorities, through two companies in Zurich (Switzerland) and Hamburg (Germany), tried to acquire 15 million euros in face masks. protection, in a business outside the usual and common commercial channels, in order to supply the global shortage of medical protection supplies.

So they came into contact with what appeared to be a legitimate website in Spain, which claimed to sell face masks. However, unbeknownst to buyers, this website was fake, despite having legitimate email addresses. By e-mail correspondence, the company initially claimed to have 10 million masks, having referred buyers to an allegedly trusted dealer in Ireland, and the Irish intermediary promised to put them in contact with another supplier in Holland.

Claiming to have a close business relationship with the Dutch company, the intermediary ensured that the Dutch firm would be able to supply the 10 million protective masks, and an agreement was made for an initial delivery of 1.5 million masks in exchange advance payment of EUR 1.5 million.

German buyers initiated a bank transfer to Ireland and prepared for the act of delivering the masks, which involved 52 trucks and a police escort to transport the masks from a warehouse in the Netherlands to their final destination in Germany.

 However, shortly before the delivery date, German buyers were informed that the funds had not been received and that an emergency transfer of 880 thousand euros was needed directly to the Dutch supplier in order to guarantee the goods.

 According to Europol reports, the buyers made the bank transfer, but the protective masks never arrived, and although the Dutch company did exist, its website had been cloned by the fraudsters, with no official registration of the order. purchase.

 Upon realizing that they had been cheated, the injured parties immediately contacted the Bank in Germany, initiating an international operation to intercept financial funds and track the money transferred to the scammers. Europol was thus called upon to intervene in the case, and members of the Interinstitutional Network of Camden Asset Recovery (CARIN) were also mobilized and the partners of the Europol Public-Private Financial Intelligence Partnership (EFIPPP) were alerted.

The early warning from these investigators allowed the UK bank to recover the full value of the money, with the funds being returned to the Netherlands and confiscated by the authorities.

At the same time, Interpol contacted the judicial authorities in Dublin, as well as the Bank of Ireland, which enabled the immediate intervention of the economic crimes department in Dublin to "freeze" 1.5 million euros from an account and identify the Irish company involved.

For its part, the Dutch Tax Information and Investigation Service located the 880,000 euros transferred by the Germans, even though almost 500,000 euros of these funds had already been sent to the United Kingdom, all of which were destined for an account in Nigeria.

 This Europol operation has already led to two arrests in the Netherlands, with investigators continuing to work on other tracks, with the “continued support” of their partners, including Interpol.

Europol is a European police service, dedicated to the treatment and exchange of criminal information, whose mission is to protect the laws of the European Union in the fight against organized, more serious and complex crime.