Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I rise to bring up the issue of scams. I have been reading a great deal in local and national newspapers recently about older, vulnerable people in particular being scanned out of money or scammed in different ways. I saw recently a lady was scammed out of €35,000 because she thought she was in a relationship with someone she met online.

As we approach Christmas, Black Friday sales are coming along and people are shopping online. People have to be vigilant. Only last week, somebody put their iPad up for sale and met the person to collect the money and hand over the iPad. That person took the iPad but the money handed over was all false notes. There are many people scamming others online and giving them false information. People have to be especially vigilant online. Most of us receive a text message every week saying our parcel has been diverted because we did not pay whatever. I certainly get those regularly when I have not ordered a parcel online. We need to highlight the issue of people being scammed. People have to be so careful, especially in the approach to Christmas.