Saturday, March 18, 2017
Serving Cork for 120 years
Spring bursts forth! Olive Ryan’s gardening column: Page 23
Edition No: 36472
Sending a turkey to Kiev
16-page guide to this week’s TV
John Dolan column: Page 18
Email scam alert 50,000 LINE STREETS FOR CITY PARADE ■ Businesses and charities told be aware of fraudsters Audrey Ellard Walsh ■
THE streets of Cork city were lined with forty shades of green yesterday, as 50,000 spectators enjoyed the 2017 St Patrick’s Day parade. Over 3,000 people representing 58 community groups and organisations took part in the parade, led by the Grand Marshal, chef Rachel Allen. Ms Allen travelled the route in style, in a 1926 Ford Model T Tourer Car, built in Cork. Floats paid homage to the city and county’s culture and heritage. Dowtcha Puppets created a special float to celebrate 100 years of Ford in Cork, with a giant Henry Ford puppet followed by a large ferris wheel displaying ten classic Ford Cars, each car representing a decade of Ford in Cork. ■ Continued on Page 2 & 3
WEATHER TONIGHT L: 10º
Cloudy with odd shower
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18.03.2017 Recommended retail price € 1.50
A CORK company has been scammed out of hundreds of thousands of euro in a fraud targeting businesses and charities.
Shonagh O’Neill, Kildinan, enjoying the Cork city St Patrick’s Day parade. See Pages 2-7 for more pictures. Picture: Darragh Kane
RRP: €1.50
Gardaí are warning businesses to be on the alert for emails cl a i m i n g t o b e f ro m a re spected figure in the company seeking the transfer of large sums of money. According to gardaí, the successful fraud attempt is one of several made in the Cork area in recent months. No details are being revealed about the company. The scam, known as CEO fraud, has targeted businesses across the world. Typically, an email purporting to be from a company’s chief executive is received by staff in charge of finances in the company, ask-
James O’Sullivan Obituary Page 15
■ Ann Murphy
ing for a sum to be transferred to an account. Typically, the money is wired outside of the country, making it difficult for gardaí to investigate. Gardaí say that, in some instances, the requests to transfer cash are made on Friday afternoon, adding to the note of urgency to have the transaction carried out before the weekend. The recent attack involves criminals hacking into a target company’s email system. It follows an attempt last autumn to target Cork City Council, where a suspicious email was received by the council’s finance department, claiming to be from the council’s chief executive, Ann Doherty. However, a red flag was raised in that incident and the fraud was prevented.
Wedding of the week Page 28