A company based in Cyprus has been scammed out of €37,700 in a new case of online fraud, the police announced on Tuesday.

According to the police, the director of a company in Limassol filed a complaint on Tuesday, saying that after an exchange of emails with a provider based in another European country, it was agreed that the company would settle an invoice for the purchase of merchandise.

However, the company in Cyprus received a new email, supposedly from the company abroad, saying the money should be transferred to a new bank account, the details of which were included in that email.

On September 25, the company made a payment of €37,700 to the new bank account, however the company providing the merchandise said the bank account did not belong to the company, nor had it sent out the email in question.

The police once again urge the public to be wary of emails requesting money transfers and verify the information with the recipient before transfering any funds.

In order to do so, the two sides should communicate by phone using telephone numbers they trusted.

The owners or directors of companies should inform their staff of this kind of scam and implement verification procedures, the police said.

More information on this type of scam and how to avoid it can be found on the police website here.