Limerick woman loses €10,000 in phone scam
The scammer pretended to be from a bank
A LIMERICK woman got a nasty shock when she lost €10,000 in a phone scam.
On Thursday, February 15 at 11:45am a woman in her 40s received a call to her mobile phone from a private number.
The Newcastle West woman said that when she answered, a male informed her that he was from a particular bank, that her account had been compromised and that she would have to change her PIN number.
The woman agreed to do this and the man forwarded her to an automated service. She followed the instructions, the final one which was to uninstall her bank app from her phone.
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Later she rang her bank and she was informed that €10,000 euro had been removed from her savings account.
Sergeant Ber Leetch, crime prevention officer at Henry Street garda station said: "When it comes to protecting yourself from a scam, an important element is to be very suspicious of any contact that you did not initiate.
"In this case, the woman got the call unexpectedly; you should pause, ask yourself could this be a scam, hang up and call your bank or financial institution yourself."