Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment proposed by my colleague, Senator Daly, to the Order of Business. Over the years, I have used the platform of the Second House of the Oireachtas to inform people of and alert them to the issue of e-mail spamming and its insidious practice. Sadly, it has reared its ugly head again in the past week. This time the potential victims are customers of Irish Water. An e-mail - a copy of which I received myself - is being sent, as is the practice, to customers and non-customers alike. The e-mails have become increasingly sophisticated. I am sure all Members of the House are familiar with banking spam e-mails, which look like the real thing. This one looks like the real thing too and an unsuspecting consumer would be inclined to respond to the request to log on with his or her details. The senders then get the person's bank account details and clear it out.

I am sure the Leader will join with me in condemning this practice and highlighting to all those who are computer literate and use e-mail that no institution - financial or otherwise - such as Irish Water uses this type of e-mail to contact or communicate with its customers.Therefore, it is a scam. It is the old cliche in the newspaper business, namely, "if in doubt, leave it out". People should not touch it or click onto it but should simply delete it. It is an insidious practice but sadly, people will be caught by it. There are regular instances of people who succumb to this type of scamming and as a result have lost considerable sums of money, as well as enduring the emotional anguish that surrounds it. The Leader should take this opportunity to agree with me and to highlight this insidious practice. Hopefully, that will at least save some potential victims from losing all their money.