'People are constantly being duped': Kildare residents urged to be vigilant against phishing calls

A member of An Garda Síochána made a recent guest appearance on a radio station in order to advise people throughout County Kildare to be vigilant of phishing.

Garda David Prendergast made the appeal while speaking on KFM during a programme hosted by Hannah Kelly.

As noted by Ms Kelly, the term ‘phishing’ refers to when unsolicited phone calls are made by people falsely claiming to be, for example, banks, Revenue or phone companies.

This is typically done in an attempt to trick the person who answered the phone into disclosing sensitive and / or financial details, in order to allow the transfer of their money into a bank account.

Speaking about the prevalence of phishing, Gda Prendgast also said: “Unfortunately, it is something that’s happening almost on a daily basis.”

“People are constantly being duped,” he added. “We’re all aware of these strange phone calls coming in, and we often ignore them or whatever, but they are getting through to some people.”

Moreover, Gda Prendergast revealed that he was aware of one recent incident of phishing in Kildare, which was reported to Leixlip Garda Station.

ADVICE

He also issued some advice and facts to combat deceptive methods carried out by phishing callers:

• Don't assume a caller is genuine, as many details about a person can be discovered through social media profiles
• (If speaking to the caller) tell the caller that you will call them back, then write down the number and look it up online, in order to check if it has been reported as being suspicious
• Don’t use a phone number that the caller may give you to validate them, as it may be a ‘spoof’ number. Instead, contact your bank or phone company directly if you want to validate the identity of the caller
• Don’t disclose for credit or debit card PIN or online banking password(s), as a bank will never ask you for this information
• Don’t transfer money to their account on their request, as, once again, a bank will never ask you to do this

Lastly, he recommended that anyone who suspects a phishing attempt should report it to their bank or another relevant organisation.