Vol. 566 No. 3
177 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the extent of fraudulent e-mails allegedly originating from African countries; if the Garda fraud squad has investigated these scams; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12814/03]
The Garda authorities have informed me that the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation is aware of the proliferation of e-mails perpetrating fraud. Every day tens of thousands of e-mails are generated by criminal gangs in the hope that a small number of people will respond.
This type of crime is a world-wide problem. The bureau liaises with law enforcement agencies around the world in attempting to prevent and detect such crime. It also liaises with Europol and Interpol in the international effort to target these criminal gangs.
Fraud prevention advice is regularly and widely provided by the Garda to counteract these attempted fraudulent activities. Recently one gang was intercepted operating in Dublin and, as a result of an operation by the bureau, one UK national and two Nigerian nationals were sentenced to five years imprisonment after being found guilty at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The bureau is not aware of any gangs operating in Ireland at present. Should information come to hand it will be investigated.
