MORE than £80,000 was scammed from people in Northern Ireland in just one day this week.
Police have issued a warning to members of the public after scammers used various ways to con people out of money on Wednesday August 12, including cold-calling at homes claiming to be from an online retailer and asking for payment.
Others reported being threatened with arrest due to an outstanding fine or warrant.
One victim reported being conned out of £40,000 in an online romance scam.
Another victim was duped by someone claiming to be from a telecommunications company who told them they would receive a refund of £400. While they did receive the money back, unfortunately £15,000 was also taken from their account.
Another person who had bought items for their business online reported losing £11,000, while another victim lost £16,000 in an online financial scam.
PSNI chief superintendent Simon Walls said: "As these reports show, there is no let-up from scammers who will do whatever they can to con people out of their hard earned money.
"Scammers don’t care who their victim is, they just want their money and will employ whatever tactic is necessary.
"While some of the losses reported to us this week involved significant sums of money to much smaller sums, we understand that any amount of money lost to a scammer is a horrible experience for anyone.
"The threat of fraud, both online and offline, against the public is a constant focus for us and I want to take this opportunity to again appeal to people that on no account should anyone disclose their personal or financial details over the phone, always err on the side of caution.
"Scammers are creative and will do whatever they can to con people out of money.
"It’s also important that if you have older members of family, talk with them and tell them legitimate providers will never seek their personal details, such as banking information, over the phone.
"This is a really important conversation to have."
