Irish man questioned in international probe over Covid-19 scam worth €15 million

The worldwide shortage of PPE has led to an increased demand for the items.

An Irish man has been questioned in relation to an international operation over a Covid-19 scam worth a total of €15 million.

The investigation was launched when German health authorities made an upfront payment online of €1.5 million for face masks.

The German health authority got in touch with what they believed was a Dutch company through an Irish intermediary and placed an order for approximately 11 million masks.

Unknown to the German company, the order was made with a fraudulent entity who had cloned the website and email address of a legitimate Dutch company.

They subsequently discovered that the website advertising the personal protective equipment (PPE) was being operated by scammers.

Following a joint investigation by Irish, German and Dutch Financial Intelligence Units - and supported by Interpol and Europol - a man in Roscommon has been questioned in relation to the international scam.

Documents and electronic devices were obtained on Friday 10 April and are currently being forensically examined.

The German company placed a down payment of €1.5 million to the Irish company’s bank account based in Roscommon, which has since been frozen.

Gardaí have said that this is a serious offence carrying a maximum term of imprisonment of 14 years after conviction on indictment.

Investigations are ongoing.