Police are investigating a case of internet fraud wherein a scam artist managed to extract more than €80,000 from a company based in Nicosia.

The case was reported to police by an employee of the company, who said the company had received emails from the scam artist claiming to be an overseas partner.

In an email sent on September 5, they told the company that payment for products the company had bought should be deposited into a different bank account to usual.

The company proceeded to transfer a total of €80,279 to the account mentioned in the email.

However, they soon realised that the bank account does not belong to the partner in question, and an employee informed the police.

The police said they recommend that people and companies verify via telephone communication when they receive emails similar to those received by the company in this case.

They also urge company owners and managers to “inform their staff of this particular form of fraud and to implement procedures to verify the payment requests they receive”.