A new phone scam is doing the rounds which sees as many as many as four numbers ringing Irish customers in order to try and confuse and fool them into answering.
One concerned Kildare phone user issued a warning to the rest of Ireland when they recorded an astonishing four phone calls from three different countries in exactly 60 minutes.
The person received a blitz of bogey calls from Morocco Belarus and Lithuania during the spate of fake calls.
The first three calls came within the space of 20 minutes in an attempt to anger the customer into answering.
Then, the phone rings again exactly 60 minutes after the first phone call received by the mobile user.
Luckily for them, their phone picked up the numbers and their location meaning they were able to scan the calls and let them ring out.
Gardai have released information when it comes to scam calls and have advised consumers to be vigilant at all times.
They said: "We would advise consumers that returning calls to unknown international numbers can be costly and we advise consumers to exercise caution when they receive a missed call from such numbers."
Gardai tips to protect yourself from phone scams:
- If your phone handset provides a number display that presents to you the caller’s telephone number, you can decide whether you recognise the number to answer the call or to ignore it if you are unsure.
- Be wary of multiple calls/missed calls being received from the same number that you are unfamiliar with.
- Do not call back any number that you don’t recognise where there is a blank or no voicemail message left.
- If you dial back an unknown number by mistake, hang up immediately on calls where there appears to be no recipient on the other end or where you are left on hold.
- If you have friends or relatives abroad that may be calling you, store their number (including the country prefix) in your phone and be aware of the prefix for the country where they might be calling from.
- If you are getting persistent missed calls from an unknown number, or if you return a call to an unknown number, contact your service provider in the first instance and follow their code of practice, details of which are available on their website.
- Some phones have the capability of allowing you to block a nuisance number from contacting you. You should check your phone manual to see if this is a feature of your handset.
- Do not provide any personal information, for example, banking details/PPS number/credit card details/name and address/passport numbers etc.
