LIMERICK Gardaí are advising people to take some simple steps after a man in his 40s was recently tricked out of money when applying for a loan.
A man from the Kilmallock area applied for a loan online, but was informed that his application had not been successful.
A while later, the man received a call telling him that his application had instead been approved.
The person on the other end of the phone then asked for a €290 deposit be paid to a different account so the loan could be processed.
The man transferred the funds to the account and, later that day, got another request for €699 to be paid as a “loan tax”.
His suspicions aroused, the man contacted Gardaí, who informed him that he had been a victim of fraud.
Sergeant Ber Leetch, Crime Prevention Officer at Henry Street Garda Station, said that the man’s financial institution’s data was likely breached.
“In this case, Gardaí believe that the online financial institutions data must have been breached and fraudsters had access to loan applicants’ information.”
“Fraudsters use a loan applicant’s need for the money to trip them up and cheat him out of cash,” Sgt Leetch explained.
“If you are applying for an online loan go to a well-known financial institution, do not use public Wi-Fi or shared computers and only access through official apps using strong passwords and PINS,” she advised.
