A Carlow Kilkenny TD says a local woman is down thousands of euro following an online scam.
During a discussion on the Digital Services Bill, John McGuinness called for better funding for local radio to help create more awareness of such issues.
He also asked that companies, whose names are included in some form of scam, have an input to online platforms and work to prevent it from happening in the future.
He outlined how easy it is for some to get caught out telling those gathered; “I’m thinking of older people at home that are contacted by a service provider, that are coaxed into giving their financial details, lady in Kilkenny where she was codded out of €3,500 and it happened in split seconds and it was gone”.
He added “And her efforts to deal with the bank, her efforts to deal with the company all came to nought because they ignored her, now we have to reach out to those people to ensure that that type of transaction and those that are involved in it can be held to account”.
And he said; “In fact you can see online through purchases how you can easily be codded and how easily you can loose your money, so there’s a constant battle that has to be fought with those bigger companies but we have to ensure that there isn’t a digital divide of those that are older or maybe those that are younger that are simply not literate in relation to all of these activities”.
