*Bogus tradesmen and romantic fraud were among the items discussed at the Clare JPC meeting.
A CLARE TD has said he is looking forward to acting as a witness for a court case later this year while the impact of romantic fraud has been flagged by the county’s Chief Superintendent.
Cathal Crowe TD (FF) has confirmed he will be testifying at a case in 2023. He claimed he will be a witness to an incident where a claimed “bogus tradesman” obtained money from an individual living in the county.
Speaking at a meeting of the Clare Joint Policing Committee, Deputy Crowe commented, “I think it’s criminal to come up through someone’s passageway and through coercion take money from them”.
Chief Superintendent Colm O’Sullivan said that crimes to do with bogus tradesmen continue to occur within Clare. “Unfortunately it is something that happens, we’ve been highlighting it for a number of years but it continues to happen, if it seems too good to be true then there is something wrong, if someone calls to your door that you don’t know then don’t entertain them or don’t open your mouth”.
O’Sullivan stressed the need for the public to become more vigilant. He asked the meeting how many of the persons present would leave €1000 sitting on the promenade in Lahinch or their own smart phone behind on a shop counter, “We’re creating opportunities for criminals but we need cooperation of communities to catch them”.
Reported case of fraud and economic crime have decreased in Clare by 43 percent. In January 2021 there had been 378 reported cases of fraud and economic crime within the county, the number had dropped to 215 by December of last year.
Economic crime “hit Ireland quite hard during COVID,” Chief Supt O’Sullivan stated. He explained that vulnerable people have been targeted on dating apps whereby scenarios are created that a person they believe they have made a connection with asks for money to fly over and meet them in person, initial sums of €1000 have been paid to cover flights before further funds are sought to pay for VISAs.
He added, “People have lost between €40,000 to €60,000 and there are people that have lost €2000 to €3000 but the impact of the €2000 to €3000 could be their life savings. For some people, a loss of €5000 could be quite significant. A huge amount occurred in this region, the financial institutions will never contact or ask for your login details”.
