A man narrowly avoided being conned out €5,000 recently after receiving a call he thought was from Revenue.
The fraudsters were described as “very believable” and only when the Limerick man saw the call was from a number outside of Ireland, he realised what was happening and hung up.
Irish phone holders are well used to the incessant scams that began rearing their heads during the pandemic, but as people are catching on, fraudsters are becoming more creative.
According to a local report, the caller had the victim’s name, address, business name and PPS number.
Because they were able to list off this information, the man handed over his Revenue ID number and an audit reference number.
The scammer then asked that a bank transfer of €5,000 be complete over the phone “as a matter of urgency.”
At this point, he realised the phone number was not Irish, and so no money was transferred, however, the victim described the scenario as “very believable” and said it “appeared legitimate.”
Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Ber Leetch told the Limerick Leader: "If you receive a call from Revenue be very suspicious, hang up and ring Revenue yourself.
“If you have given your bank details over the phone, ring your bank first to cancel any transactions and then report it to gardai.”
This is not the first instance of callers purporting to be from the Revenue, and so officers published a warning to the public in recent months saying; “These people are not calling from Revenue. We will never ask customers to provide personal information via telephone calls or text messages.”
“If you receive a telephone call purporting to be from Revenue about which you have any doubts, particularly if the call is unexpected, you should contact your Revenue Office.
“If you receive contact demanding payment of tax about which you have any doubt, you should contact our Collector General's Division through MyEnquiries, our secure online service.”
If you have mistakenly provided personal information in response to these types of fraudulent phone calls you should contact your bank or credit card company immediately and alert the Gardaí.
“It is important to point out that these types of scams in no way involve Revenue’s systems or security,” the warning concluded.
