Garda Community Alert Message

Garda Community Alert Message

Garda Community Alert Message

Beware of scams
Unfortunately over the last number of months email and text scams have begun to appear on a regular basis. They take many forms but their ultimate goal is to gain access to your bank account details and remove as much as they possibly can before being discovered.
Alternatively, others encourage the victim to forward large sums of money by way of a deposit or down payment for some fictitious or nonexistent service.
The most common scams operating at present are:
Account redirect fraud
Where businesses are asked to change their current bank account details for a supplier and redirect all future payment to the fraudster’s account.
BOI online fraud
Victim is contacted by text or email and advised that their account has been compromised as a result of a recent ATM or point of sale transaction that was skimmed. They are advised that the account is being deactivated and in order to reactivate they need to cut their debit card and forward same to a given address.
The victim is then brought through their current bank details during which the fraudster obtains your email, phone no:, account details and pin. The fraudster then uses the details to remove as much as they can over the few days while the victim is waiting for the “New” fictitious card to appear. The victim eventually realizes that it’s a fraud and contacts the bank to find large sums gone from their account.
Lotto or prize win
Victim contacted by email, text or post and advised that they have won a substantial amount in a foreign lotto but in order the handle the administration and release of the prize they need to lodge a sum of money to a particular account. This results in many people lodging thousands in an attempt to release the fictitious prize.
The Crime Prevention advice in relation to these types of frauds is to:

  1. Never click on unsolicited texts
  2. Never give away personal details over the phone or internet
  3. Remember the bank will never contact you seeking confirmation of account details
  4. Report any such approaches to your bank and local Gardai at the earliest opportunity

 
Brendan Roche
Crime Prevention Sergeant
Waterford