EIR HAS ISSUED advice to customers following complaints online from members of the public claiming to have received scam phone calls from someone pretending to be from the company. 

Several people have claimed on social media to have received dubious calls in which an automated voice claims to be ringing on behalf of Eir. 

It is believed that oftentimes, calls of this nature are an attempt to obtain personal details or a sum of money from unwitting individuals.

A number of similar frauds have been reported in Ireland in recent years.

An Eir spokesperson said that “phishing is certainly not a problem that is confined to Irish operators”, adding that trusted business names such as Eir are often used by fraudsters because people are familiar with the company.

The spokesperson explained what the scam caller tends to do: 

The modus operandi of the caller is to pretend to be a representative of a legitimate company and to then persuade the individual to divulge personal and/or financial information or to click on a web link to download software that may compromise the customer’s computer. 

Generally, the fraudster does not actually have your number; rather they use an autodialler to call hundreds of random numbers automatically. 

If you receive an unsolicited call, Eir is advising the following: 

• Do not respond to calls from an unknown source.
• Never disclose any information particularly personal or financial
• Never visit pages provided by the caller.
• If you hear an automated message on answering a call asking you to press a number, hang up.
• If you suspect that a call is not genuine, end the call politely and hang up.
• If you have provided bank account or credit card details, please contact your bank immediately to advise that your banking details may have been compromised.