Scammers impersonate Mayor of Galway on social media

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Fake social media accounts impersonating the Mayor of Galway have been wreaking havoc online for the past three weeks – targeting unsuspecting community groups and individuals with information about a non-existent EU fund.

In less than a month, no fewer than eight Instagram accounts, three Twitter accounts and one Facebook page have been set up in Mayor Mike Cubbard’s name – something the Independent councillor has described as a bizarre but dangerous nuisance.

According to Cllr Cubbard, up to 70 people have contacted him on his own social media accounts and by phone to query if it had been him who messaged them to inform them of a “€50 million fund” that was available to them – and one who questioned if it was him who was the imposter.

“They usually start off with a ‘how are you’ and then move on to ‘are you aware of this European fund that’s available to groups such as yours’ – and they give you a phone number and email address,” explained Cllr Cubbard.

In messages seen by the Galway City Tribune, the scammer is seen to offer individuals money coming up to Christmas – grants of €10,000 to €55,000 depending on the needs of their families – and all they had to do was contact a person named ‘Thierry’ based in France.

While Cllr Cubbard said he doesn’t believe anyone has been caught out, he knows they have contacted people under 18 years of age and are attempting to take advantage of vulnerable people whom they were “preying” on in the run up to Christmas.

“What they do is they give a contact number – a French number – and an email. I put the phone number in on WhatsApp and a guy’s picture came up. I messaged him and he denied knowing anything about it – he just said he was in France.

“I have reported it to the Gardaí,” said Cllr Cubbard, adding that there wasn’t much they could do as he wasn’t being harassed directly.
This is a preview only. For full coverage and to read the Council statement in full, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.