Clare gardai warn of internet investment fraud

CLARE Gardaì have issued a further warning about internet fraud on foot of a recent report from a man who was almost the victim of a scam.

The man did a search on the internet regarding investing his money, clicked on an unknown website and filled out a form, submitting same.

He was later contacted by telephone by a male with an English accent claiming to be from a well-known and reputable multinational investment bank and financial services company.

He was offering him a 3.5% annual return on his investment over three or five years.

The man did not invest but unfortunately in the recent past an elderly couple presented at a Clare Garda station with the exact same fraud and they did lose money.

Whilst the scammers may change their stories or methods, their goal is always the same – they want to access your sensitive information and get their hands on your money.
Never give out your information be it over the phone, text or email.

Clare gardai are urging people to observe the following guidelines.

• If looking to invest money, do your research, even go so far as to seek advice from a local financial adviser. The particular company named in this scam has an office based in Dublin. A phone call to their offices using a phone number from the phone book or their website would establish their authenticity. Do not trust a phone number given to you by the caller as this could be fake. If the caller is genuine they will understand and welcome your need to validate them.

• Take the caller’s number and advise them that you will call them back once you have validated their identity.

• Don’t assume you can trust caller ID. Fraudsters can spoof their numbers so it looks like they are calling from a particular company even when they are not.

• Remember, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.