FraudSMART raises awareness of financial scams and provides tips on how to protect yourself.

Sarah met her partner online through Facebook. Her partner was based in the Middle East and they decided together it was time to move the relationship to the next step. He was going to move to Ireland and they could be together properly. Sarah received a phone call from customs in Ireland to say his belongings had arrived but that the customs had been underpaid and would need to be paid immediately to release them for delivery. She paid almost €4000… Read more

A telephone scam causing near fraudulent transfer of life savings.
Carmel received a call from an individual purporting to be from her bank. She provided all of her banking details on the phone after a series of questions, nearly following the individual’s instructions to take out and transfer her savings to a ‘safe’ account… Read more

Ruth works for a large multinational company and is responsible for paying creditors as invoices arise. She received an email from one of the company’s creditors notifying her of new payment details. Ruth updated the account information on the online banking, but as no payment was due did not make any payment and went about her day. The following month an invoice was submitted requesting payment. The invoice was legitimately from her supplier. A week passed and the supplier rang to request payment… Read more