Personal Finance
‘Don’t believe calls seeking to pay you €3,000’ – gardai notified of fraudsters seeking bank details
Ger Deering says his office has notified gardaí of fraudsters seeking personal bank details
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Callers claiming to offer €3,000 compensation payments for ‘bank overcharging’ are scam artists, the financial services ombudsman warned today.
Ger Deering, whose office does investigate complaints of sharp practices at retail banks, said he has received public tip-offs that fraudsters claiming to be from his office are seeking people’s personal bank details over the phone.
“Scams are unfortunately a regular occurrence and attempts by these fraudsters to connect themselves to my office could lead some consumers to believe that this is genuine,” he said.
“Consumers may be aware that I can direct a financial service provider to pay compensation to a consumer following the investigation of a complaint. However, in such circumstances, compensation is paid by the provider in question directly to the consumer.”
The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman said it had notified gardaí of the phone calls, evidently coming from a Dublin landline. The callers identify themselves as representatives of Mr Deering’s office who are “arranging refunds of €3,000 for consumers from their bank”.
Mr Deering said he was “grateful to the individuals who contacted us in recent days concerning this fraud. Early warnings are important in disrupting scams.”
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