GARDAI in Tralee have been alerted to a fraud that targets elderly people whereby they receive a phone call from someone purporting to be from the fraud section of their bank.
They are informed that their credit or debit card has been illegally accessed and money is missing from it. The amount is usually in excess of €1,000.
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They are usually informed that this money was transferred to Western Union or Money Gram without their permission and that they are working with Western Union/Money Gram to rectify the situation and have the money refunded to their account.
The targeted person is then contacted by someone purporting to be from Western Union/Money Gram stating that they can only issue refunds in multiples of €1,000 and because the amount was in excess of €1,000 they, the targeted person, would first have to forwarded the balance to them before the refund can be issued.
Gardaí are asking anyone contacted by phone stating to be from your bank, to to verify the authenticity of the phone call with their local bank and contact the local Garda Station if you think you may have been a victim of this fraud.
