Gardaí in Donegal are seeking to reunite a man with his Rolex watch after he was scammed by a fraudulent ‘buyer’.
The watch, a Rolex Explorer with an engraving on the back, was advertised for sale online and subsequently stolen.
The seller was initially contacted by a woman who expressed an interest in purchasing it.
The man met with the woman and following an inspection of the watch, she agreed to buy it.
She agreed to transfer funds via online banking and then had a video call with a third party to show some form of debit card authentication taking place.
The buyer then engaged in a series of deceptive tactics, a suspected fraudulent mobile banking app, to convince the seller that the payment had been made.
The man left the watch and the documentation with the woman as he was satisfied that the funds had been transferred into his account.
“The money had in fact not been transferred into his account and he is now at a substantial loss,” said garda Niall Maguire in a community notice.
“We wish to warn members of the public about this type of scam and advise them never to hand over any property to anyone until they have verified with their own bank that the transfer of funds has taken place.”
Gda Maguire added: “We ask anybody (members of the public, pawn shop owners) who may have come across this type of watch for sale on a second hand basis recently to please make contact with us. Any relevant information may be passed to Gardaí in Ballyshannon on 071-9858530 or to the Garda Confidential line on 1800 666 111.”
