Fraud WhatsApp calls from the Credit Union

The Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) has been made aware of an “advanced fee fraud” scam that is currently circulating. The scam involves a member receiving a WhatsApp call, purporting to be from the ‘Credit Union’, requesting the following;
• Payments to be made by the member in order to release a loan/ funds
• The member’s PPS number
Calls to customers have been from the following numbers 083 813 1978, 083 859 0918 so far, as well as others.

Please be vigilant when asked for personal information over the phone.

With increasing levels of fraudulent activity targeting the public, the Credit Union has provided guidance to help avoid scams.

• Be careful of unsolicited contact that appears to be from your bank or credit union requesting verification of account numbers and/ or passwords. Credit unions will NEVER request your full personal access code or password.
• Don’t assume an email, call or text is genuine because someone has basic information like your name or address. Fraudsters may use publicly available information to lure you in.
• Number spoofing (making it appear as if a call or message is coming from a genuine number) is becoming increasingly more prevalent and sophisticated. If in doubt about any call or text received, contact your credit union directly.
• Fraudsters are very good at making e-mails look genuine and have been known to set up elaborate and convincing dummy websites. Check the web address of a website carefully. It is safer to manually enter a web address into the address bar of your browser.
• If somebody contacts you out of the blue offering you money or an easy way to make money, it is probably too good to be true.
• If you have previously been a victim of a scam, then it is more likely that you will be targeted again. Please remain vigilant in order to protect yourself.
• Scams can take many formats. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. Take your time to think things through and don’t feel pressured into making a decision that you might later regret.