Gardai are again warning of scam phone calls coming from an 083 number.
People all over the country are being inundated with the calls which usually come from a person claiming to be from Revenue or the Department of Social Protection.
Scammers are also leaving voicemails and asking people to respond, eventually asking for PPS numbers or bank details.
Other people are being told there is a warrant out for their arrest and their accounts have been compromised as a result.
Gardai again issued a warning about this scam this week as it continues to plague phone owners.
A garda spokesperson said: "There has been a substantial increase in people receiving phishing phone calls from persons purporting to be from the Revenue and Dept Social Protection. The person receives a phone call initially or a voicemail from an 083 number. The voicemail is usually an automated voice advising them to press 1.
"Once this is selected, you are put through to a person who advises that their PPS number or bank account has been used in some serious crime, money laundering or drug trafficking. Some people are led to believe that there is warrant for their arrest in existence and are then advised that their accounts are compromised in some way or implicated in a crime and in order to make their money safe, it will need to be moved to a different account.
"In a number of recent cases the victims of these types of crimes were persuaded to download apps and allow remote access to their laptops thus allowing fraudsters to have access to their personal data and online banking. They then move money into different accounts.
"In all cases what the fraudster wants is a victim’s personal data and control of their bank account in order to steal money from them. Fraudsters use deception to influence and manipulate people into divulging personal information that may be used for fraudulent purposes."
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