by Andrew Carey
GARDAÍ are advising people to be cautious in giving out details or money at their front doors, following a number of incidents involving bogus callers to housing estates in Limerick pretending to be from various agencies and charities.
A Garda spokesperson said that there were “three reports of current scams being tried on the public in Limerick.”
Gardai at Mayorstone received a report of a man who called to read the electricity meter of an elderly resident at Avondale Drive, Greystones.
“He called to the house between 1.45pm and 2.15pm on a Monday afternoon and asked the owner of the house to boil a kettle so that he could verify if the meter was reading correctly.
“Fortunately, the owner of the house became suspicious and the suspect left. He is described as being a man in his very early 20s.
Gardaí have also been notified of a bogus collector collecting funds for ONE, the organisation for ex service men and women.
“It seems the bogus collector is calling door-to-door while genuine collectors for ONE will only collect in public places on the street during the months of July and August. Genuine collectors will be in possession of the correct Garda authorisation as well as ID and will be providing the “Fuschia Emblem” to contributors.
The third incident under investigation is where a victim applied for a clerical job online.
The man supplied and address and contact details.
“Subsequently, he was told he was successful and received a bank draft, payable to him, in the post, with instructions to lodge it to his bank account.
He then received a number of emails instructing him to pay money to a number of other accounts.
A Garda spokesperson said that the victim became suspicious and contacted his bank who informed him the bank draft was counterfeit.
