Tirana Prosecution seeks a guilty verdict and a 10-year prison sentence for the Nigerian defendant S.N., on charges of 'Computer Fraud' under Article 143/b/2 of the Criminal Code.
This citizen was reported by E.B., an entrepreneur who has been running his detergent business for the past 10 years, importing products from Italy to Sauk. Over the years, E.B. communicated regularly via email with his Italian supplier to place orders. After receiving the goods, he would make the payments through bank transfers.

At a certain point, E.B. received an email—apparently from the Italian supplier—informing him that future payments should be made to a new bank account in Germany, rather than the company’s existing account in Italy, including the relevant invoice. The reporting party, noticing that the email address appeared identical —although it was later discovered to differ by a single character—and seeing that the attached invoice corresponded precisely with those previously received in official communications, proceeded with the payment, given the understanding that the company was a multinational entity.
Subsequently, he was contacted by the actual Italian supplier, who notified him that the €25,000 payment had not been received, leading him to realize that the funds had been transferred to a different account.
The investigation by Tirana Prosecution Office identified S.N. as the beneficiary, who perpetrated the criminal offense of “Computer Fraud” under Article 143/b/3 of the Penal Code, resulting in the unlawful appropriation of €25,000 from the victim.

During the investigation and trial, the modus operandi of this computer fraud was uncovered, revealing that several businesses in Albania had been targeted and deceived. The Prosecution determined that emails and websites of companies with weak security measures or simple passwords were compromised by international hackers. These perpetrators closely monitored these platforms and communications involving invoice payments and monetary transfers directed from within Albania to accounts abroad.
Thereafter, the perpetrators engage with the targeted businesses by impersonating the legitimate suppliers, accomplishing this by creating websites and email addresses that closely resemble the originals. To establish credibility, they reference prior electronic communications between the businesses and the genuine suppliers—communications that had been compromised through hacking. Once trust is gained, they provide fabricated management justifications and instruct that payments be redirected to alternative accounts, thereby diverting the businesses’ funds while the victims remain under the impression they are paying their authorized partners.

Given the recurrence of such cases, Tirana Prosecution Office issues a warning to businesses to remain vigilant against these fraudulent schemes by adopting stringent security protocols to safeguard their computer systems, business websites, email accounts, and passwords. Moreover, to thoroughly verify the legitimacy of every business website and email address involved in communications, particularly when requests are made to alter the payment details for a supplier invoice.