Scam alert from big Laois Kildare credit union headquartered in Portlaoise

People First Credit Union has issued an alert to customers about a fraud scam.

The big Portlaoise-headquartered credit union took to social media on February 12 to warn the public in Laios and Kildare and its members about.

"We have been made aware of a fraudster purporting to be from People First Credit Union.

"We would like to remind members that the credit union will never call you and ask for you to give us an authentication code sent by text, and we will never ask you to click links in emails or text messages to verify your identity," said People First Credit Union on social media.

People First CU Marketing manager Carol Murphy expanded further 

"It is something that’s happening on a regular basis to every financial institution now unfortunately. One of our members called us say that she received a call from ‘Michael’ who is calling from People First CU and to let her know that there is suspicious activity on her account.

"He said there were two transactions and asked her for her 6-digit security code and to click on email he was going to send her thankfully member hung up on him straight away. The number he was calling from was an Irish number but not a credit union number (although scammers can also replicate telephone numbers)," she said.

People First remind members that the credit union will never call you and ask for you to give them an authentication code sent by text, and will never ask you to click links in emails or text messages to verify your identity.

If you ever have any doubts about a text, call, or email that you receive, Ms Murph urged people to contact them immediately at 057 86 22594.

Apart from Portlaoise, People First has offices in Stradbally, Abbeyleix and Athy in Kildare.

GARDA advice on what type of Social Media Scams do you need to be aware of?

• Free Trial Products: Social media sites are often used to lure people into signing up for free trials on products. These scams usually involve the participant signing up for a free trial of a product which is often not genuine instructing them to provide their payment card details upfront. The victim then becomes tied into a fixed period contract unbeknownst to them and have provided their payment card details to an unknown individual.

• Investment Scams: Opportunities are advertised on social media sites to invest in products or businesses which are often fake or do not exist. All investment opportunities should be fully researched prior to handing over any money.

• SOS or HELP Messages: This scam involves social media account holders receiving messages from persons in their “friends” or “contacts” list saying that they are in trouble in a foreign country and need help. This message usually requests that they transfer money to an account in a foreign country. The content of the messages varies but popular ones tell the story that the person has been arrested and needs money for bail or that they have fallen ill and need money for hospital treatment. These scams are also perpetrated by email.

• Work from Home Opportunities: Job opportunities are often advertised on social media sites and give the incentive of working from home. These opportunities request payment upfront for training or goods that do not exist. One such scam seeks people to act as a financial controller for a company and the criminal forwards a cheque to the account of the target. It is then requested that the funds are transferred to various bank accounts worldwide. In these cases the cheques are often counterfeit and the target ends up transferring their own money prior to the cheque clearing. This scam is also used as a method of money laundering the proceeds of crime.

• Fake Friend Requests: Social media account holders receive friend requests from people that they do not know or from people already in their contacts who have had their accounts hacked. Accepting these requests causes your account and that of your friends to be hacked and the personal data accessed. • Twishing: This is a combination of the words Twitter and Phishing and is a form of phishing in which a message is received on a person’s Twitter account in an attempt to obtain personal or security data by directing the recipient to a bogus website.

• Clickbait: This is a post on social media which is worded in a way to attract the users’ attention and persuade them to click on the link to find out more. Often times these links are to bogus websites which seek to compromise your personal or security data.

• Online Shopping Fraud: Criminals set up fake online shopping sites in order to obtain the payment card details of victims and steal money from their bank accounts. These sites look genuine and often offer discounts to attract victims. It is only when the victim does not receive their goods that they become suspicious but at this stage their payment card details have been compromised.

Crime Prevention Advice

• Never send money to a third party unless you can trust their bona fides.

• Be wary of unsolicited contacts or where the contact appears to be based in other jurisdictions.

• Be wary when the avenues for contacting the other party are limited.

• Push for direct answers and if responses are vague disengage immediately.

• Never give personal, financial or security information to persons who are unknown to you.

• If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

• Do your research and accept nothing as fact until you have satisfied yourself that it is genuine.

MORE FROM GARDAÍ ON FRAUD HERE