A LOCAL credit union manager is warning people to be aware of scams in the run-up to Christmas.
Sheena Joyce from SAG Credit Union said that elderly people are particularly vulnerable but that everyone should be on their guard particularly when giving out information over the phone. She said one credit union member was almost the victim of fraud in recent days.
Her warning comes as the Department for the Economy launch a campaign to make consumers aware of scammers during the festive period.
“For the past two weeks one of our elderly members has been receiving persistent phone calls from people claiming to be from a mortgage company or a bank,” said Sheena. “All calls are at a certain time of the morning when they have gauged that the elderly person is on their own.
“They state that the member has overpaid their mortgage and that they are due a refund. In the first instance they told them to write a cheque and post it by recorded delivery to an address in England. Thankfully, a family member arrived in time to stop them however the scam artist on the phone had managed to get a lot of information from the elderly person and continued to ring them pretending to be from their bank.”
Sheena said that because the elderly person had given the scammers a lot information in the original phone call, when they phoned again they nearly duped the elderly person’s daughter who answered the phone.
WARNING: Sheena Joyce, manager of SAG Credit Union in West Belfast
“The scammers are sophisticated as one morning the member’s daughter answered the phone and she believed that they were ringing from their elderly family member’s bank.
“The family have informed the police and the member’s bank but we just want to warn people about the persistent and predatory nature of the scammers. They are smart, build up a picture and then get the person to believe that they know them and get them to trust them. The family had a call blocker on their phone, but the parent had removed it as they did not like it.”
Sheena said banks and financial institutions could also help beat the scammers by being vigilant regarding unusual transactions.
