Investigation: how fraudsters are using legitimate Irish businesses to set up bogus companies

Companies Registration Office headquarters appears on a dodgy corporate filings

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July 01 2021 02:30 AM

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Details of a HSE unit, dozens of legitimate businesses and even the Companies Registration Office itself are being used by fraudsters to set up an alarming web of hundreds of bogus companies here, an ongoing Irish Independent investigation has found.

There’s now growing evidence of an organised fraud network that is exploiting glaring gaps in enforcement here to create legal entities in Ireland that can then be used for criminal activity anywhere in the world.

The use of the postal address of a Health Services Executive unit in Dublin as the registered address of one of the fake companies should cause serious concern given the ransomware attack perpetrated against the HSE last month. That’s likely to cost the HSE more than €100m to deal with.