Golden rule is to never, ever disclose your personal details

GARDAÍ are urging the public to spread the word on fraud prevention as people are falling victim to scams on a daily basis. Provisional figures show that this type of fraud has increased five-fold for the first twenty days of April 2021, as compared to April 2019.

Gardaí have recently highlighted scams where people are pretending to be from An Garda Síochána, Social Welfare, the Attorney General’s Office, banks, delivery companies and other businesses.

Whilst the scammers may change their stories or methods, their goal is always the same – they want to access your sensitive information and get their hands on your money. Never give out your information whether it be over the phone, text or email.

We need everyone to spread the word as people of all ages and all walks of life are falling victim to fraud on a daily basis.

Anyone who rings, texts or emails you out of the blue and requests personal information such as bank details are not to be trusted – they want to steal you money.

If the person who contacts you claims to be someone you are associated with, then carry out your own enquiries to find out if it’s genuine. Never click any links they send you, or call the number that they contact you from. Never ring back an unkown number on an email either.

In recent scams, a phone call from a number similar to the Garda Confidential Line contacts a person stating they are investigating fraud activity or investigating a crime and require your details to progress the investigation. The phone call comes from 0-1800-666-111. The actual Garda Confidential Line number is 1800-666-111 and there are never outgoing calls from that Garda number.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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