Woman who lost €24,500 in phone scam ‘distraught’

A woman conned out of €24,500 of her savings in an elaborate phone scam has said she is distraught and “can’t live with herself”.

The woman, who with her husband was conned in a ‘vishing’ scam, said the bank used by the scammers to take her money has already written to her to say it cannot reimburse her.

Gardaí confirmed they are investigating the case.

The latest case follows the same path as others already being probed by gardaí, involving conmen taking advantage of a feature of the phone landline system known as ‘clear down time’, where calls to some landlines remain open for up to 60 seconds after the receiver of the call has hung up, if the caller does not disconnect.

In the case involving the woman from north Dublin, she was contacted by someone purporting to be from a high-end city jewellers, claiming that her bank card was being used in-store by someone unknown to her to buy a Rolex watch.

She was urged to call the helpline number on her bank card, and someone giving his name as Richard McNeill then asked her to call the gardaí in Dundrum, which she believed she was doing, speaking to a named garda, a Supt Higgins.

However, despite believing she was ringing the correct phone numbers at all times, she was in fact speaking to the same circle of fraudsters.

She later moved savings from her post office and credit union accounts into her Irish bank account, before the money was transferred into a Barclay’s Bank account set up by the fraudsters, who told her it was to keep her money safe.

The victim gave statements to gardaí last weekend. She has a physical disability and is receiving medical treatment, while the money taken amounts to most of the couple’s savings.

“I can’t live with myself,” the woman said.

Yesterday a Barclay’s Bank spokesperson said whoever set up the account would have been subject to authentication and checking procedures, adding the bank was happy to assist in an investigation, if supplied with the appropriate legal order.