Cruel scammers con victim out of 'considerable' sum in Kilkenny

Phone scammers recently conned a local victim out of a considerable amount of money, gardaí have revealed.

The victim sent the money after falling prey to a cruel scam that has been doing the rounds over the last few months.

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The scam involves criminals sending texts like 'Hi Mum' or 'Hi Dad' to grab the attention of the victim.

When the victim believes that the person messaging them is indeed their child, they then ask for some kind of payment, assuming it was their son or daughter asking for help. 

Often, there is an undertone of urgency conveyed by the scammers, which distracts the victims from thinking too much about the dubious nature of the exchange.

Below is an example text, although the wording may vary from message to message:

Gardaí in Kilkenny described it as 'one of the most vicious online scams out there at the moment'.

Recipients of these texts, if in any doubt, should instead verify the identity of the sender by calling or texting the family member using their usual phone number.