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GARDAÍ HAVE URGED the public to be vigilant after Irish numbers were targeted by scammers claiming that the intended victim had won a prize in the French lottery.
Gardaí in Fermoy, Cork, got a report this morning from a person who had been contacted by a male caller calling from a French phone number. The caller informed his intended victim that they had won €50,000 in a lottery and was looking for bank details to transfer the money.
Officers advised that ff you receive a call from an unrecognised number do not feel obliged to answer and that some of these calls come from premium rate numbers and “you’ll end up paying a small fortune”.
A garda spokesman said: “Often you’ll notice a missed call, made late at night deliberately while you’re probably asleep, from a number that looks like an Irish landline or mobile. Ignore and block.
“The Revenue are not in the habit of calling us to give a rebate, so don’t react to callers looking for bank details urgently. They’ll put pressure on victims to take urgent action, causing a bit of panic.
“Remember, your personal information is your property so be careful who you share it with. Easiest of all? Just hang up. Nobody is too smart to get caught out, so be alert and report suspicious activity.”
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It’s only when you log into your online account and see your account is empty that the thought occurs to you… “Shlt, I didn’t even do the French lottery”
One egg is un oeuf for a French man
@John kane: I have not heard that in years.
I got that call. The weird thing for me is that I’m french! Thankfully I didnt get caught out
I got a call from France this morning, i dont answer an unknown number nevermind a french one.
@John Smith: same here, interrupted my dancing with baby boy. We continued and apparently lost out on quite z prize
I answered the call, 50k richer now and hitting the town for the night, hoping they will phone me again tomorrow
Should investigate the irish lotto scam, still no information on what they have done with unclaimed money since taking over the lotto, higher ticket cost pricing and reductions in prize money ?
I only answer numbers I recognise. Too many scams
I didn’t get any calls from any french number’s. I’m starting to feel a bit left out now :(
Can anyone tell me what the exact danger of giving bank details for a transfer (iban and bic) is?
@sb: I’d say it’s more the case that if you’re dumb enough to think you won the French lotto then you’re probably dumb enough to give your card details anyway.
@sb: the more info they have hips away at your security
I got a call.but it said France underneath.i don’t answer any calls that have no name.they will leave a message if they want you..please pass that on to everyone you know.
You don’t need the French to scam the lottery, the Irish lottery are doing it all the time, since that idoot Labour leader Brendan Howlin sold the lottery to a private companies. it has been a disaster on all levels since then. Your chance of winning anything on the Irish lottery is from zero to nothing.
Sounds like the scammers are as skint as the rest of us come January!
I got this call but didn’t answer. My husband also got it but didn’t answer!
@523StarBar: I got 2 missed calls from 2 different French numbers last night, 1st one only rang once or twice. Did I just miss out on the jackpot TWICE!!
I got a call from a French number this morning. I didnt answer and no voicemail left. It rung twice and then stopped. Probably thought i would phone back.
nul points. Quelle débâcle de crédulité.
I got that call and every time i went to answer it hung up and every time it called it only rang once wanting me to ring it back
I’m in charge of our work Lotto syndicate. In January our total winnings are a big fat 0. Gonna have to start doing the French Lotto
What!! It’s a scam?? Ah shite.
@The digenous: yeh Irish lottery is a scam u didn’t know.
I never had any lottery scam call like this in the past, but thanks for sharing this warning. It’s better to just hang up on them. We need to just block the numbers and file a report to the authority and more importantly, to some consumer complaint boards like http://whycall.me so that more people will be aware of such scams.
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