A WOMAN in the Milford area provided her Personal Public Service (PPS) number to scammers after she believed the call to be genuine because the phone number came up as her local Garda station. The incident has prompted Gardai to put out a warning as there has been similar incidents across the Division in the last week.
“Milford Gardaí received a call this morning from a lady in their area who had received a scam call from a mobile number claiming that there had been suspicious activity detected in connection with her PPS number,” said a spokesperson for the Garda Division.
“She was then informed that she would receive a phone call from her local Garda Station. She then received a call and the calling number was the same phone number that is attached to her local Garda Station. She provided her PPS number to the caller because she believed the call to be genuine as she had her local Garda Station number saved on her mobile phone.”
A similar incident happened in the Bunbeg area this morning when a person provided bank account details to the scammers over the phone. Again the person believed the call to be legitimate because the calling number appeared to be that of their local Garda Station.
“Please be advised that Gardaí will never call you and request personal information (PPS number etc.) or financial details,” warned Gardai.
“Should you receive a similar call, please hang up and do not divulge any personal details regardless of the callers contact number. If you have fallen victim to this scam, please alert Gardaí and your financial institution immediately.”
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