Councillor targeted by scammers warns of scheme
Ozzy O’Shea said he was "very concerned" about the scam
- Published
A councillor who almost fell for a scam in which fraudsters pretended to be from his bank has warned people of the ruse.
Ozzy O'Shea, cabinet member for highways and transport at Leicestershire County Council, said he nearly fell foul of the scheme after criminals hacked into a number of his online accounts and attempted to change the passwords.
The former police officer and magistrate said he was "concerned" after the scammers contacted him.
Deborah Taylor, the council's lead member for regulatory services, said the scam was currently "very common".
Mr O'Shea said he first noticed something was wrong when he was sent a message from his email provider to say his password had been changed.
He then received notifications stating that someone had tried to access his Amazon and National Lottery logins, as well as his ISA and bank accounts.
“I was very concerned, because I hadn’t changed any passwords and realised that I had been hacked,” he said.
“I immediately called the providers of my accounts and added two-step security to all those that didn't already have it.
"Luckily, it was already in place on my Amazon, ISA and bank accounts, so the scammers didn’t manage to get anything.”
'Please be careful'
Shortly afterwards, Mr O'Shea received a call from a man claiming to be from his bank, asking for him to confirm his address.
“I want to warn people that no matter who you are, this sort of scam can happen to you," he said.
“Please be careful when talking to anyone who calls you, and be careful about passing on your details online."
Commenting on the scam, Ms Taylor said people should never give out personal and financial details to cold callers.
“This type of scam is very common and can target anyone, so we want to warn people to be on their guard to make sure they’re not caught out by it," she said.
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