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Police urge people to be vigilant after online scams

A warning has been issued two women were conned out of thousands
A warning has been issued two women were conned out of thousands A warning has been issued two women were conned out of thousands

POLICE have issued a warning to the public to be aware of online scams after two people were conned out of significant amounts of money.

In the most recent case on Monday, scammers claiming to be from British Telecom convinced a woman her account was being hacked from Amsterdam.

She was persuaded to download programmes, which gave them remote access to her account and allow them to take money from her account.

Another woman lost thousands of pounds after receiving an email from a scammer claiming to be from the HMRC who contacted her about a tax rebate.

She had been expecting a rebate so replied with her details.

But having re-read the email she realised it was a scam due to the amount of spelling mistakes in it. She contacted her bank which immediately placed a flag on her account for suspicious activity.

PSNI Chief Superintendent Simon Walls said the woman then received a call from a scammer claiming to be from her bank who said he noticed fraudulent activity on her account.

"He said he would close her account and open a new one but she would need to transfer her money to a different account, in amounts of £9,000 each day because that was the daily limit," he said.

"The scammer sent the woman details via text from a number that was the same as her bank. The woman subsequently made transfers of different amounts over a number of days.

"Unfortunately, the woman lost all the money transferred and it shows just how easy it is for people to be caught out."

Mr Walls urged people to be "vigilant" adding that "these are just two examples of online scams where two people have been taken advantage of and lost a significant amount of their money".