Kilkenny Garda warning as victim conned out of €5,000
Gardaí in Kilkenny are urging the public to aware of fraudsters after it emerged a person in a neighbouring county lost €5,000 to people pretending to be from Social Protection Services.
During the period April 1 to April 20, gardai reported 163 incidents of frauds across the county, three times as many as the same period last year, and five times more than two years ago.
Gardaí 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.
A person living in neighbouring county Waterford fell foul to one such scam and lost €5,000 after being told a PPS number had been tracked back to them and was linked to drugs and money laundering.
They were asked by the fraudsters to download an app, from which then managed to obtain their personal details and money.
A local Garda spokesperson said: “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 be it over the phone, text or email. Provisional figures show that this type of fraud has increased fivefold for the first 20 days of April 2021 compared to April 2019.
“We need everyone to spread the word, 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, they are not to be trusted,” the spokesperson added.
