Gardaí are renewing warnings to the public not engage with suspicious messages.
Gardaí are renewing warnings to the public not engage with suspicious texts, after a Westmeath man was scammed out of over €9,000.
The Athlone man in his 20s was contacted by cyber criminals pretending to be from his bank and tricked him into logging in to a clone account.
This enabled them to copy his online banking details and raid his funds.
Sergeant Andrew Haran has this advice for anyone receiving similar communications:
Please see below, recent Garda advice around fraud prevention.
An Garda Síochána wish to advice members of the public of smishing/vishing/phishing fraud. The most prevalent types are purporting to be from your bank, or other financial institution, where you are invited to click a link, which brings you to a cloned website, subsequently looking for your pin. They may also seek other personal data. Address, date of birth, PPS numbers etc.
An Garda Síochána would like to advise:
• Never click on a link of an unsolicited text
• Never give away personal data like PIN number, card numbers, passwords, one time codes
• Banks would never request a customer return a card to the bank in such circumstances
• Be very wary of cold calls – just because the number looks Irish does not mean it is – fraudsters use VOIP numbers
• If you are concerned hang up and ring your bank/service provider from a number advertised in the phone book or on your bill
• If you are expecting a delivery and receive such a text, be very careful. Contact the delivery service
Gardaí would advise people not to respond to such texts, to make screenshots of the texts received and delete them and to report it to the bank or relevant company and local Garda station.
Calls Grow For 24 Hour Garda Station In Edenderry After Arson Attack
Appeal Date Set For Jozef Puska Over Murder Of Ashling Murphy
Offaly Town Demands Meeting With Garda Commissioner And Justice Minister
Ireland’s First Kidney Pancreas Transplant Recipient Dies Aged 68
Quality Of Life To Drive Offaly’s Appeal For Foreign Investment - Anna Marie Delaney
Hundreds Of Mourners Gather For Tadgh Farrell's Funeral
Dancing With The Stars ‘A Once In A Lifetime Opportunity’ - Rose Of Tralee
Uisce Éireann To Submit €6b Water Project Plan
Pedestrian Killed In Midlands Crash
Gardai Arrest Four Men Over Laois Prison Assault
Maura Higgins Set For Traitors US
Man Taken To Hospital Following Alleged Westmeath Assault
Osteoarthritis Programme Launched At Midlands Hospital
Laois County Fire And Rescue Service Welcomes Two New Fire Appliances
Offaly TD Welcomes New IDA Ireland Investment
Gardai Conduct House Searches In Connection With Offaly Arson Attack
Funeral For Offaly Arson Attack Victim To Be Held Today
Emergency Services At Scene Of Offaly Crash
Tadgh Farrell’s Father Denied Compassionate Bail To Attend Son’s Funeral