Be wary.
Irish people have been targeted by a phone scam this week as fraudsters attempt to extract money from unsuspecting members of the public.
The scam - known as 'Wangiri fraud' - involves an unknown number calling your phone and leaving you with a missed call. When people call the number back, their phone credit is drained or a hefty charge is added to their phone bill.
Scams like this do the rounds every so often but the public are being warned not to be caught out by this latest one.
The calls are reported to be from Somalia and have a 00252 prefix.
The following advice should always be followed:
• Avoid answering calls from numbers that you cannot identify, especially if you are not expecting a call.
• Hang up immediately, on calls where there appears to be no recipient on the other end.
• Be wary of multiple calls being received from the same number.
• Do not call back any number that leaves you a blank voicemail message.
• Do not provide any personal information for example – banking details/PPS number/credit card details/name and address/passport number etc.
