Probe as local hit in €12k scam

Gardai in Athlone have issued a fresh warning to people to exercise a high degree of vigilance over their bank accounts after a local person had €12,000 removed from their account over the past week.

Sergeant Andrew Haran confirmed to the Westmeath Independent yesterday (Tuesday) that the shocking theft is currently “under investigation” by the account holder’s bank and also by local Gardai, but he added that this type of crime is “unfortunately, very prevalent at the moment.”

Sergeant Haran said large numbers of people have “a lot of money on deposit” at the moment and this, coupled with a huge increase in online activity as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, has fuelled all types of financial scams.

“We would appeal to people to be very pro-active about checking their banking transaction history on a regular basis and to immediately report anything suspicious,” he said.

"We would also really appeal to people to never, ever divulge any of their banking details in response to an unsolicited approach from someone purporting to be from a banking or other financial institution,” he said.

Although the investigations into the removal of €12,000 from a local person’s bank account without their knowledge or approval is only at a “preliminary stage” according to Sergeant Haran, he said the person involved did not knowingly divulge their banking details to any third party.

“These scams are getting more and more sophisticated” he said “so everyone needs to exercise a high degree of caution.“