Galway Bay fm newsroom - Gardaí have urged the Galway public to be vigilant following a marked daily increase in fraud and financial scams this month.
It comes as provisional figures show this type of fraud has increased nationwide fivefold for the first 20 days of April 2021.
Gardaí have recently highlighted scams carried out over phone, text or email where fraudsters are impersonating representatives of An Garda Síochána, Social Welfare, the Attorney General’s Office, banks, delivery companies and other businesses.
Recent incidents in Galway this month included a case where the injured party lost over €20,000 after being told their PPS number was found following a raid at a house.
On one day in April, Gardaí received eight reports of fraud incidents in Dublin, Cork, Donegal, Limerick, Wicklow, Galway and Louth of fraud attempts.
Detective Superintendent Michael Cryan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau says the golden rule is never to engage with people who make contact out of the blue looking for personal information.
