Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Over the last couple of months, we have become all too familiar with scam telephone calls and text messages. This week, the Central Statistics Office, CSO, published data which showed a 40% increase in fraud by comparison with this time last year. This month alone, I have received ten scam text messages and dozens of scam telephone calls. My constituents report being inundated with scam text messages and telephone calls to the point where they are now sceptical of every call and text they receive. That is wrong. These text messages and telephone calls are from people purporting to be from reputable bodies such as the Department of Social Protection, An Garda Síochána, the HSE, An Post and delivery services. Besides being terribly annoying, they are a threat to the vulnerable among us, in particular older people who might not be tech savvy and as such fall victim to some of these scams. People who are living alone are feeling harassed and intimidated by the frequency of these scam text messages and telephone calls. What action can Government take to crack down on these scam text messages and telephone calls, many of which are falsely claiming to be from Government offices?

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