Major Online Fraud Targets Larnaca Company, €111,000 Transferred to “Ghost” Account

The illegal interference went unnoticed, allowing falsified invoices to be processed and payments executed.

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POLITIS NEWS

A company based in Larnaca has fallen victim to large-scale online fraud, resulting in the loss of a total amount of €111,370, according to a complaint filed on Thursday with the Larnaca Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Police said the complaint was submitted by an employee of the company, which had undertaken to process payments on behalf of a partner company, also based in Larnaca, to a company in Spain.

Compromised email communication

Communication between the Cypriot and Spanish companies was being handled through a law firm in Spain. According to police, around mid-September 2025, unknown individuals allegedly gained illegal access to the email correspondence between the law firm and the Spanish company.

The perpetrators then sent invoices containing falsified bank account details, redirecting payments to a fraudulent account.

Payments executed before fraud detected

The illegal intervention was not detected at the time, and the invoices were forwarded as usual to the Cypriot company for payment processing.

On 29 October 2025 and 4 November 2025, the Cypriot company carried out two bank transfers, amounting to €68,120 and €43,250 respectively, to the suspect account.

Fraud uncovered after verification

The fraud came to light during subsequent communication with the Spanish company, when it was confirmed that the bank account in question did not belong to it. At that point, the companies realised they had been deceived.

The Larnaca CID’s Economic Crime Investigation Office is continuing investigations into the case.

 

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