Scammers rob £1k from NI victim’s bank account

Cllr Gareth Wilson has warned the public to be wary of the phone-based scam claiming to be from the online retailer Amazon.

Cllr Wilson said a constituent wanted him to publicise the risk after they lost almost £1000.

He said, “This was a shocking account relayed to me by the constituent and I was really annoyed for them to learn that the scammers, after a lengthy phone conversation about upgrading their Amazon Prime service, had then pretty much emptied their bank account.

“The issue with certain scams is that the scammers are targeting so many people in a day that they inevitably reach someone who has the particular service and are paying for it and therefore the scam can seem very very convincing. This is particularly the case if it is a service that someone maybe has in the past few days made some alterations to. If you then have a fraudster contact you saying they need to make an adjustment, it can appear very legitimate - that is the worry here.

“The scammers in this instance through a lengthy and skilled conversation got the information they needed and sadly left the constituent almost £1000 worse off. The constituent’s bank is currently investigating this crime however it can take many weeks for this to be finalised. The message my constituent wants to get across is that the public need to be very, very aware of these calls and to keep personal banking details secure at all times. Just set the phone down immediately you become suspicious.”

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