GARDAÍ HAVE SAID a letter sent recently to an Irish politician saying they were under suspicion for alleged sexual offences against children was an extortion “scam”.

The letter was sent to the politician in the west of Ireland in April in the hope that the politician would make contact with the sender who would then attempt to blackmail them, gardaí said.

It purported to have been sent by the Department of Justice and the European police agency Europol. 

Sergeant Ber Leetch of the crime prevention office at Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick said anyone who receives similar correspondence can treat it as a “fake”.

“I frequently give crime prevention advice on scams by phone, email, text etc, but it’s important to remember that letters by post are also used, and in this case a letter was sent to the office of a County Councillor in the West of Ireland, it had the Department of Justice and EUROPOL logos on it in an effort to make the document look official,” said Leetch.

“It claimed to be a ‘Judicial Summoning’ from the ‘head of the brigade for the protection of minors’ and accused the county councillor of having engaged in child pornography.”

“The letter was sent to this councillor in an effort to get a reaction from him, the scammers hoped that he would contact them directly and once contact was made, the next step was probably to invite him to pay a fine or ransom.,” Leetch said.

“Clearly, the scam failed as the councillor contacted local gardai and they could reassure him that the letter or summons was a complete fake.”

Leetch advised: “Report any scam to Gardai, it gives me the opportunity to caution others.”