Two PIs blagged data on CU loan debtors

Two female private investigators who pretended to be HSE and VEC officials were able to blag personal data from other civil servants to help credit unions find members who had defaulted on their loans.

One of their personas was ‘Colette’, an employee with a VEC drop-in centre in Dublin, who convinced a Department of Social Welfare official in Carrick-on-Shannon who administered the Back to Education Scheme to repeatedly divulge addresses by claiming she was checking on people’s eligibility for the scheme.

The other persona was ‘Ann’, who worked in the HSE administrative offices at Dr Steeven’s Hospital in Dublin and regularly phoned the HSE’s own Primary Care Reimbursement Service in Finglas under the pretence of checking eligibility for medical cards.