Police announce breakthrough in online fraud case

Police on Friday reported a serious breakthrough in an investigated case of online fraud committed in 2016, in Paphos.

According to police, a 38-year-old man who had been arrested in connection with the case by Spanish authorities, was extradited to Cyprus on Friday and has been remanded in custody pending further investigations.

The case had been reported to police in December 2016 by a company manager in Paphos. According to the complainant, his company, as part of its operations, had purchased equipment from a Spanish company.

The complainant communicated with the supplier via e-mail and was asked to pay €18,450 as a deposit to a specific bank account. According to the complainant, on the same day, he received a new email from the supplier requesting a change to another account.

The complainant proceeded with payment using the updated account details but in the course of the following days received notice from the supplier that the deposit was not received and that the supplier had not sent the message to change accounts.

Police confirmed that the bank account into which the manager had paid did not belong to the supplier and that the funds had been collected by an unknown person.

During examinations carried out on the manager’s computer police detected malicious software that steals codes and other stored data.

Continued investigation, in cooperation with the Spanish authorities, brought testimony against the 38-year-old suspect and a European arrest warrant was issued against him in 2019 on the basis of which he was arrested and extradited to Cyprus.

Paphos CID continues investigations.