Fake gardai scam doing the rounds in Kilkenny once more

Kilkenny gardai are reminding residents to be aware of a scam doing the rounds where people are impersonating members of An Garda Síochána to gather personal information.

Gardai became aware of a number of people being contacted in these ‘phishing’ scam earlier this summer where fraudsters obtained personal information from their victims.

It has now become apparent the scammers have not gone away and members of the public are still being cold called by the scammers pretending they are calling from the gardai or the Attorney General’s office.

Many of the calls have been coming from a phone number with a 083 prefix, but are not confined to just that prefix.

The scammers, as has become common, direct people to an automated calling system asking them to press numbers on their keypads to go to the next stage.

The person on the end of the phone is then asked to download an app, which gives scammers access to the victim’s personal bank details or PPS number.

Gardai are asking Kilkenny residents to not engage the callers, do not return the call and hang up on them.

A garda spokesperson said: “Never share personal information, never give out your PPS number, your banking details, personal pins or any data.”