Irish public warned of new phone scam claiming that their internet needs to be fixed

Be on your guard.

Members of the public are advised to be on alert following a series of scam phone calls over the past few days. The scam in question concerns an automated recording that falsely claims to be an Eir technician looking to repair customer's internet connections. The recording says that the person's connection is compromised, and prompts them to transfer to an operator in order to fix it. From there, it appears that people are asked to present personal details or part with a sum of money in order to solve a non-existent issue. Labour Party member Peter Horgan used social media to flag suspicious calls in County Cork, following numerous reports coming his way from concerned local citizens. https://twitter.com/horganp/status/1019134487236575233 JOE has contacted Eir for comment. Communications regulator ComReg notes that there is no method to identity a scam call number, and they can resemble a normal, familiar, geographical or international number that people would come across on a daily basis. They offer the following advice for the general public:

• Be wary of multiple calls/missed calls being received from the same number that you are unfamiliar with
• Do not call back any number that you don’t recognise where there is a blank or no voicemail message left
• If you dial back an unknown number by mistake, hang up immediately on calls where there appears to be no recipient on the other end or where you are left on hold
• If you have friends or relatives abroad that may be calling you, store their number (including the country prefix) in your phone and be aware of the prefix for the country where they might be calling from
• If you are getting persistent missed calls from an unknown number, or if you return a call to an unknown number, contact your service provider in the first instance and follow their code of practice, details of which are available on their website
• Do not provide any personal information, for example, banking details/PPS number/credit card details/name and address/passport numbers etc.