By Tony O’Riley-
Police in Northern Ireland have warned members of the public to be vigilant following a number of scams reported on Thursday.
Unsuspecting victims have falling prey to scams while their guards were down.
In one case, a victim was cheated out of £21,000 in an online romance scam. Another victim was conned out of £45,000 from someone claiming to be a broadband provider, a third lost £5,000 from a scammer pretending to be a bank.
The exact details of how someone can be cheated of as much as £45k has not been divulged, after cops from Northern Ireland told this publication they don’t want to give ideas to other scammers to use. However, members of the public have stupidly fallen for smart tricks to get them to part with large sums of money.
Although many of the victims have largely been from Northern Ireland, scams from individuals claiming to be representatives of established institutions and reputable company’s have taken hundreds by surprise in other parts of the Uk over the past few years. Experts of such trickery appear to be more prevalent more prevalent in Northern Ireland for some reason, and officers believe it is necessary to sound the alarm. Residents of Northern Ireland are to particularly be on alert
Chief Superintendent Simon Walls said in a statement: “The threat of fraud, both online and offline, against the public is a constant focus for us and yesterday saw several incidents reported so I want to plead for people to be on the guard against possible scams. In total we received 32 reports and in 7 cases monies were lost.
“This included one victim reported being swindled out of £21,000 in an online romance scam, another person conned out of £45,000 from someone claiming to be from a broadband provider and someone else losing £5,000 to a scammer pretending to be for the bank. There were other incidents reported which involved smaller sums but we understand that any amount of money lost or indeed any interaction with a scammer is a horrible experience for anyone.
“Scammers will employed a variety of means to swindle their victims. Scammers are creative and will do whatever they can to con people out of money.
“They don’t care who their victim is, they just want the money and will employ whatever tactic is necessary.
“I am urging people to take extra precautions to protect themselves from such callous callers. Be sceptical and on your guard, if you think something is suspicious about the nature of the call, it usually is a scam. Organisations will never cold call you to demand money. They will never ask for payment in vouchers.
“It’s also important that if you have older members of family, talk with them and tell them legitimate providers will never seek their personal details, such as banking information, over the phone. This is a really important conversation to have.
“Guarding your personal and banking details is essential. Never disclose them to any unauthorised person.”