Gardaí in Donegal are advising the public to be on alert for recent delivery scams and a ‘phishing’ gift card email.
The authorities have been contacted by members of the public who have been targetted by a number of scams this week.
The first scam relates to an email purporting to be from ‘An Post’. This scam email notifies you that they (An Post) have tried to ship a parcel to you but that they have an incorrect address for you on their system. The email also requests you to pay new shipping costs.
An Post have advised their customers to delete any emails that they receive in relation to outstanding delivery charges. Do not click on the link within the email and simply delete it.
Another scam that was brought to the attention of gardaí is a ‘phishing’ email in which you will be asked to purchase a gift card or gift cards (eg. Amazon giftcard) for the sender as they cannot do so themselves for various reasons. They usually mention a personal hardship and they create a sense of urgency. Should you respond to an email such as this, they will then request that you send them the claim code on the giftcard and then they simply disappear. Once the claim code is provided to a scammer, the funds will likely be spent before you have a chance to contact Gardaí or the gift card provider.
The advice from gardaí is: “Should you receive an email such as this, delete it. Do not respond to it. Always be suspicious of anyone who contacts you and demands money quickly.
“If anyone out there has fallen victim to a scam of any sort, we urge them to report the matter to Gardaí and also to their financial institution.”