Three scammers have been caught by Italian police after they tried to con an Irish cattle dealer out of €800,000.

A deal had been negotiated between what the Irish man believed was the owner of a farm in the northern Italian province of Mantua for 115 Irish cattle. The cattle were delivered to the Italian farm between 15 and 18 October and payment methods were established.

However, no payment followed and when another man looked for a further consignment of cattle, the Irish dealer went to Mantua police headquarters with suspicions of fraud.

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The police said that initially, the scammers tried to buy time by claiming to have made the payment of €800,000. They were saying that it had not been successful due to problems related to the bank used to send the transfers, also showing the relevant receipts.

They even had a third man present himself as the director of the bank, trying to reassure the victim by claiming to have opened a bank guarantee to guarantee the payment, Italian police said.

Further police investigations found that the receipts were fake and the alleged bank manager was an accomplice of the gang of fraudsters.

After carrying out a check at the farm, the 115 head of cattle were still there and were seized by the police.