The Complaints Bureau concludes
April 25, 2024
The Complaints Bureau closes its case files of consumer complaints tonight. Over the past eight weeks, many consumers shared their experience of being unfairly treated. Each week, financial maestro Eoin McGee and his trio of consumer experts have helped investigate and resolve a wide range of consumer quandaries.
In tonight’s concluding episode, business person Alice shares her terrible experience of getting scammed out of €10,000 last May. Alice got a phishing text falsely claiming to be from her energy provider. She was asked to update her details though a fake link. Believing it to be genuine, Alice clicked on the link and entered her personal details.
A scammer pretending to be from her bank, then called her up looking to verify payments on her account. The scammer told Alice that attempts have been made to take money from her account and that she needs to open her banking app and authorise his request for payment. This will undo the supposed attempt to withdraw her money, he explains.
After clicking on the authorisation request and then a second one, she smells a rat. But it’s too late, the fraudster has scammed her out of €10K. Consumer guru Conor Pope sets out in search of answers and reimbursement for Alice. Phishing scams pose a big threat to consumers online.
We also meet retired dentist Frank, who applies for a credit card ahead of his holiday trip to Spain. His bank denies Frank’s application, pointing to a red flag on his credit rating. Frank has no outstanding loan yet his bank advised him to apply to the Central Credit Register (CCR) for a credit report. This is a database that stores personal and credit information on loans over €500. Consumer journalist Siobhan Maguire gets to the bottom of why Frank got refused in the first place.
Make sure you tune in to RTÉ One at 7pm this evening to see how things work out for both Alice and Frank. There’s also the baffling mystery of what happened to Edel’s missing wedding dress! Catch up any episodes you may have missed on RTÉ Player.
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