A Donegal garda has warned members of the public to be alert to possible scams after a recent personal encounter.
Garda Grainne Doherty, who is based at Letterkenny Garda Station, was speaking after receiving a call this week from a man who purported to be calling on behalf of her bank.
“He knew my name and he explained that he was calling from the security team as a couple of transactions had been attempted on my account that he wished to check with me,” Garda Doherty explained.
“He named one large transaction that I was not aware of and then went on to name a transaction that actually does out of my account weekly. He went on to explain that as I did not recognise the large transaction that he would have to cancel my bank card immediately and issue a new one. He said that we had to act fast in relation to the matter”.
It was at this stage that the man then called out her address and that he would send a new card to her.
“And he actually had the correct address,” he continued.
“He then requested my user ID from my banking online which I explained that he would not be getting. I told him that I wanted to call the bank directly to verify that what he was telling me was accurate and I hung up”.
Garda Doherty then contacted her bank directly. It turned out that no fraudulent transactions had been attempted on her account and they assured her that they would never request a user ID over the phone as the caller had.
“I blocked the number that had called me as soon as I got off the phone to the bank,” she explained.
“I wish to advise others to be alert in relation to these types of calls as they can appear to be genuine especially when the caller is in possession of your correct name, address and actually has knowledge of a transaction that does usually comes out of your account. Never provide your personal or financial details to anyone via phone call, message or by email. Should you receive a similar type of communication, simply end the call or do not respond to the message. Contact your bank directly to verify the matter”.
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