by Andrew Carey
ELDERLY people living alone are being targeted by scam artists posing as officials from Irish Water as Gardaí warn people to be extremely vigilant and not to hand over money or bank details at their front door.
The warning comes in the wake of a reported scam where an elderly woman in Roxboro was conned out of a sum of money by a man pretending to be working for Irish Water.
The man called to the woman’s house and said he was looking for money in connection with the roll out of the new water meters.
Gardai say scams like this are on the rise and are usually carried out by well-dressed scam artists who claim to be from Irish Water or the Pensions Board.
Garda Denise Haverty said that the man, described as being in his early 20s, called to the home of an elderly woman and said that in conjunction with the roll out of the water meters, he was requesting a sum of money to install a new water meter in the ladies home.”
“This was a complete deception on a vulnerable member of the community and the man left the house with a sum of cash.”
Gardaí said that they were reminding members of the public that a number of these type of scams are under investigation.
