A car rental company fell victim to online fraud on two occasions during June and July 2022 resulting in the loss of €27,216, police said on Saturday.

The fraud took place when an electronic message was received from a company based in Morocco with which the car rental company collaborates. In it, it was requested that two invoices relating to car rentals be paid.

However, the account to which the payment was to be made was different from the account usually provided.

The rental company’s employees however, were convinced that it was a valid account and on June 29 and July 11 made the two payments, €17,834 and €9,370 respectively, to the British bank account indicated by the scammers.

Later, and after having communicated with their Moroccan colleagues, it was found that no such invoices were due and that they had fallen victim to a scam.

After the development, a complaint was filed with police who are now carrying out investigations to identify the perpetrators.