Clare Gardaí have warned that numerous types of scams are on the rise within the county.
Criminals have been perpetrating to be Gardaí in the latest scam which targeted one man in Shannon and a woman in West Clare within the past week.
In recent days, a Shannon man received a call from an 085 number from a male who said that there was a warrant out for his arrest and asked him what was his local Garda Station, he answered to say it was Shannon. The caller then told him he would get a further call with instructions. He then received another call from a male saying that he was a police officer from Shannon Garda Station – the number of Shannon Garda Station had been cloned by the scammers.
He was instructed to go to a Bitcoin machine in Limerick and to lodge €5000 in cash in 5 separate transactions which he did. The man contacted Shannon Garda Station after lodging the money and due to the swift action of a member of Detective Branch in Shannon this man got his money back.
A similar incident almost occurred in West Clare only for a woman hung up the phone immediately after receiving a call from an 085 number which also asked for her local Garda station.
Sergeant Tríona Brooks, crime prevention officer told The Clare Echo, “Gardaí will never contact you over the phone and request your bank account details or ask you to lodge money. If you are cold called from someone saying they are a member of An Garda Síochána and they are looking for bank details or your PPS number ask them for their credentials and ring the Garda Station to verify. Do not ring a number they give you as being that Garda Station. Go to the Garda website and look up the station phone number”.
Separately, a male who bought a graphic card on Facebook Marketplace was instructed by the seller to pay the €160 via pay safe cards and he gave the voucher codes to the seller. This was another scam as he hasn’t heard from the seller since.
Brooks explained, “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. 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. Do not click into any links they send you or call the number they contact you from or that is stated in their email”.
