The HSE has issued a warning following a surge in Covid close contact text scams which are conning people out of money.
Covid-19 cases are on the rise this Christmas and scammers are taking advantage of the situation by sending false notifications to people claiming they have been a close contact. Victims of the scam are then invited to buy what they are told are ‘mandatory’ antigen tests by clicking a link.
A HSE have reminded people that it does not charge or ask for payment for these tests and urged people not to click on links in unsolicited texts and emails. A spokesperson said: “There has been an increase in scam texts relating to the health services and Covid-19.
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“We take these scams seriously and monitor the web for instances of scam websites purporting to offer HSE-related services. If we find a scam website or are notified of a scam by the public, we take action to get the site taken down immediately.
“Unfortunately, it is very easy and quick for the criminals to set up a new site." The health authority also warned people to be Covid-aware as families congregate together over the holidays.
Criminals have not only been impersonating the HSE but also An Post and other major state organisations. Scams related to An Post involve fraudulent texts with fake links through which customers are asked to pay outstanding customs charges.
“An Post will never send a text or a link for payment,” the company's head of communications, Anna McHugh, said. “Sometimes there are outstanding payments for Irish customs – but we will always ask you to pay that via the An Post website.”
Ms McHugh added any links requesting payment will not have been sent from An Post. She continued: "These scams come in waves – and we did a big campaign before Christmas, because we knew there would soon be another wave, as people are shopping online more and are expecting parcels. And sure enough there was."
Online scam spotters have calculated that the average phishing scam saw the victim lose €1,700 in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, the latest CSO figures show that fraud, deception and other related offences increased by 8 per cent year-on-year up to the end of September 2022, with a total of 14,655 recorded crimes of fraud in a 12-month period. 5,655 of these crimes were in the Dublin area alone.
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