The scams that a currently rife across various parts of the world are also showing themselves in Ireland. There are victims in various locations in Ireland who are losing 1000’s of euros falling foul to tricks and fraudulent activity.
Technology, as it stands at the moment, is allowing connivers to access personal information easily and this makes targeting innocent parties much easier. We are innocently sharing our information on social media and the internet and these forums allow scavengers get a hold of that information and potentially use it against us! The information that can be pulled out about individuals gives these tricksters the opportunity to build scams against them that sound very convincing and often ‘tailored’ to be more enticing to the audience.
The people who create and action these scams will often use other ploys to sound more realistic and trustworthy, for example, they will be in an environment that sounds like there is a contact centre in the background. They may use terminology and specific phrases and words that sound professional and knowledgeable to build trust whilst all the time they are only trying to get you to part with money for little or nothing in return.
It is quite terrifying that in some cases millions of euros have been lost to scams because of the tactics employed above.
There are many different scams flying around at the moment, some of which are, telephone scams, emails scams, direct debit scams and summertime scams.
We will briefly explore the summertime scams and note some things that you may need to look out for:
The airline giveaway scam, with this scam, you will likely get an email from a well-known international flight carrier who is looking for feedback from you through a survey. More often than not the email will say that if the survey is completed by a certain date, you will get a €200 voucher off your next flight with the airline. The survey will be completely non-descript and wouldn’t normally cause any concern, however, it will ask you for your bank account details so monies can be forwarded to you for completing the survey – Alarm bells should be ringing at this point! Don’t put your details in, take a close look at the email address that has sent you the survey. At a first glance the email address will look legitimate, but on closer inspection, it will be a scam email address! Pay lots of attention to what you get from who!
Holiday seekers should also be aware of booking scams where conmen set up bogus accommodation websites and post fake adverts online. People are using these sites ‘buying’ their holidays and not finding out until they get where they are going that they have no-where to stay!! It was all fake and someone has run off with the holidaymakers hard earned cash! Fraudsters are also hacking the email accounts of genuine travel company websites – and then getting in touch with the company’s customers directly, requesting payment for the holiday by bank transfer.
Just remember when you are online, receiving calls or responding to emails, do your research! Don’t book a holiday without making sure you are using a reputable operator, check the company’s website and email address to ensure it hasn’t been subtly altered, and pay by credit card rather than bank transfer. Prevention is better than a cure. Don’t give your euros away, without knowing for sure who they’re going to!
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk