Cork victim of phone scam lost thousands of euro

The man was a victim of the many phone scams circulating. File picture. 

A member of the public in Conna, Co Cork has lost a five-figure sum from his bank account after falling victim to a mobile phone text scam. 

Gardaí are warning the public about a message scam that appears in a text thread of genuine messages from their bank. 

It is one of many sophisticated fraud operations circulating since the pandemic started with members of the public also reporting phantom phone calls from Revenue claiming to have warrants for their arrest.  

Speaking to Patricia Messinger on C103's Cork Today Show, Sergeant John Kelly from Fermoy Garda Station said the public needs to take precautions as many of these scam texts arrive under a bank's name. 

He said the person clinked on the link within the text message and was later informed by their bank in a genuine call about the five-figure sum of money lost to the scam.

"People need to be very aware, those text messages are still out there, so just delete immediately and your bank is not going to contact you in that manner," he said. 

Sgt Kelly said the scam "has thrown a few people" as the messages appear in a thread of genuine messages from their bank. 

He said that a person's bank will never contact them to ask about private information and that people need to be careful.

"Anything like that, your default position is just ignore it," he said. 

A recent study has shown scam victims are being conned out of €5,300 on average representing a rise of 50% in the amount of money lost to fraudsters. 

A total of €15.6m has been lost by the victims of scams — including impersonation, investment, and romance scams — according to the latest figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).

It reveals a sharp rise in the number of scams over the course of the pandemic, with a jump of 80% reported in 2020.

In the 12 months to July 2021, almost 70% of the public had been targeted by some form of impersonation scam.