Scam calls and texts are causing increasing anger

Scam phone calls to mobiles and land lines in Westmeath have intensified in frequency and persistence in recent weeks, resulting in several irate readers contacting our newsroom. However, a call to the Westmeath Examiner last week suggests that the scam has been taken to a whole new level and that legitimate phone numbers are now being cloned and used by the scammers.

The Examiner’s advertising department staff member who took the call said that “we have all been getting calls and texts, but this was different, it was really weird”. She answered a call from a UK number and got an automated message saying someone was calling from the Department of Social Protection. She immediately hung up and blocked the number, as she always does with such calls.

However, within a couple of hours, the office got calls from “a multitude” of Irish numbers from people claiming they had a missed call from our number. These people were from around the country, one from Wexford, another from Kilkenny, who had no previous dealings with the Examiner.

One of the callers could confirm that the missed call to her phone was made at 2pm, but our calls listings showed no calls had been made from the office at that time.

“It’s like they are going to a whole new level with this, cloning Irish numbers,” our staff member said.

One angry reader who contacted us says she is plagued with calls purporting to be from ‘Amazon Prime’. They can start at 8.30am and she could get three of them before lunchtime. They claim she’s been charged €79.99 to renew her subscription and to press 1 to cancel it or 2 for more information. She doesn’t have Amazon Prime.

During our interview, she got a further call in which “Amazon” upped the ante, this time telling her they noticed suspicious activity on her account and she was going to be charged €1,499! The call was from what appeared to be a UK mobile number.

She said that has been going on for weeks and what she finds infuriating is that she works from home and is often on a work call when the scam call comes in. She ends the call she’s on to take the incoming call, only to find it’s “Amazon Prime” AGAIN!

A reader in her 70s showed us three texts she got during one night last week regarding fictitious deliveries – the first shortly after midnight, another at 2.04am and another at 3.02am. She is also getting scam calls to her landline. She was on a mobile call to a friend in Waterford the other day and during their 40-minute call they received two scam calls each to their landlines. “What are Eir doing about it?” she wonders.

Another reader is also getting repeated texts saying, for instance, “your order #276513 will arrive soon. Track progress at” and then a link. They purport to be from courier companies such as DHL or FedEx. At the weekend, he got two such messages in the form of a voicemail with a link attached.

The calls claiming to be from the “Department of Social Protection” seem to target mobile numbers and as reported in the Westmeath Examiner recently, they come from numbers almost identical to the number being called – except for the last three digits. They claim that your PPS number has been used illegally and that you are facing immediate arrest and prosecution and all sorts of ignominies. It suggests that you press 1 to speck to “our law enforcement officer” (delivered in an American accent).

We contacted Amazon, who confirmed that they never telephone customers. They advise customers not to interact with these callers and not to give out any personal information.

The Department of Social Protection urge the public not to engage with callers and not to share any part of their PPS numbers, bank account details or any other personal information.

If you have provided any such information to a caller that you believe to be a scam call or text, contact the gardaí immediately. They advise that clients use only official departmental websites such as MyWelfare.ie and gov.ie/dsp.

Eir say on their website that scam calls cannot be blocked like telemarketing calls as they usually originate outside of Ireland. The calling number has most likely been bluffed to resemble a legitimate number. Unfortunately they have no control over what number is presented when spoofing occurs, they say.

Fraudsters who engage in call spoofing normally chose random local or national numbers to increase the chances that the call will be answered.

Eir give guidelines on what to do if you have concerns about these calls which basically are don’t engage and if you do, contact your bank immediately.

Requests from the Westmeath Examiner to ComReg, the communications regulator, for information on this problem have gone unanswered.