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An example of a purchase scam<\/p>\nThere has been a 27% increase in purchase scams in the region over the past 18 monthsAn example of a purchase scam<\/p>\n
A bank has issued a warning to shoppers following an increase in purchase scams on social media.<\/a><\/p>\n The Bank of Ireland has made the warning saying there has been a 27% increase in purchase scams in the region over the past 18 months, with these now accounting for two out of every three incidents of fraud that have been reported.<\/p>\n Purchase scams describes incidents of fraud where fraudsters use social media to trick people into buying products or services that don’t actually exist or are not as they have been advertised.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Northern Ireland benefit scam warning as social media users offered ‘immediate money’<\/a>READ MORE: NI warning over retail app hacking after four victims identified in one week<\/a><\/p>\n The bank has said that new research it has carried out as part of a fraud awareness campaign showed the concerns of NI consumers with regards to scams. This showed;<\/p>\n Allison Ewing, Fraud Manager, Education & Awareness at Bank of Ireland said: \u201cAs the results from our research show, fewer than a quarter of consumers trust social media companies to protect users from fraud – the public need and deserve for these companies to do more. No company should profit from fraudulent activity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to play our part in advocating for and protecting consumers from financial harm, reminding everyone to Stop, Think and Check before making a payment or sharing information, and I encourage anyone who thinks they may have been the victim of a scam to report it straight away to your bank \u2013 we\u2019re here and ready to help.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bank is also reminding customers that its dedicated fraud support team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout Christmas<\/a> and New Year. Customers can contact the fraud team using Freephone line 0800 121 7790 or by dialling 159, the memorable short code number that connects consumers safely with their bank.<\/p>\n Detailed advice and information on how to stay safe from all types of financial fraud, including purchase scams is available at: Security and Fraud \u2013 Bank of Ireland UK website<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage <\/strong>here<\/a> and sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There has been a 27% increase in purchase scams in the region over the past 18 monthsAn example…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[196854,35745,188,349,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-639178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-bank-of-ireland-uk","9":"tag-christmas","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-fraud","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115737681013061072","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Allison Ewing, Fraud Manager, Education & Awareness at Bank of Ireland urging everyone to Stop, Think and Check before making a payment or sharing information as purchase scams are on the rise. <\/p>\n