Phishing scam almost catches young South Westmeath man

A young man from South Westmeath area had a lucky escape at the weekend when scammers attempted to take over €5,000 from his bank account as part of the ever-increasing number of phishing scams doing the rounds.

The young man, who is in his 20s, got a text which he is thought was from his bank and replied to it, according to Athlone gardai. An attempt was then made to take €5,500 from his account but luckily for him, the bank was alerted to the activity and made contact with the customer to ensure it was not him. The financial institution managed to stop the transaction just in time on Friday prior to the man notifying gardai the following day.

Sgt Andrew Haran from Athlone Garda Station confirmed to the Westmeath Independent that they are looking into the latest incident, adding that they now get a least one of this type of scams reported in Athlone every week.

Acknowledging that the scams can be quite sophisticated and look the part, he advised the public never to reply to what you think is an email or text from any bank, and instead get in touch with the financial institution by phone to check it out.

“The key is unless you initiate contact with your bank, never give out any details,” Sgt Haran repeated on Monday.