Scammers: they’re everywhere.

From that dodgy text message demanding you hand over your bank details to sort out unpaid customs duty, to that unsolicited knock on the door from a repairs company or vague ‘charity’; these days, you have to be one step ahead to keep your money and personal information safe.

In fact, Cork City’s Citizens Information has seen a sharp rise in people seeking information about how they can protect themselves and their families from these cunning fraudsters.

“There is a big increase in the number of people contacting us about scams,” said John Beausang, a Cork City Citizens Information Manager.

“Some can be quite obvious, while others can be very difficult to recognise. If in doubt, do not open the message or email, click on the link, or engage in any way and don’t hesitate to contact the company to verify if the communication or message is real or not.”

The best way to contact the company is via their official website contact information.

“Scammers are cunning and believe that they are above the law, this is why we must be one step ahead of them at all times and know the signs, and how to protect ourselves from scams.”

The advice from Cork City Citizens Information is to be very cautious if you receive any of the following:

● Unsolicited contact from a company out of the blue
● A deal that seems too good to be true
● You are asked to share personal details
● You are being pressured to respond quickly or transfer money quickly
● You have been asked to pay by an unusual method, for example through a transfer service like Western Union or virtual currency like Bitcoin
● Misspellings or grammatical mistakes appear in your correspondence
● Unusual email addresses appear at the top of the email

“If you have any concerns please contact your local Citizens Information Centre, we remain open and are here to answer any questions you may have,” added John.

Call a member of the local Citizens Information team in Cork City on  0761 07 6950 (Cork City Centre) / 0761 07 6850 (Cork City North) or email cork@citinfo.ie for further information.