Voucher scheme emails are not ‘scam’

LOCAL politicians created an uneasy night for their constituents by claiming a verification email sent out by the Department for the Economy about the NI voucher scheme was potentially a ‘scam’.

The email was sent out by the department and asked people who had been unsuccessful with the application process for documents as proof of identity.

Politicans who had not checked with the Department for the Economy thought that this email was the product of scammers and took to social media to voice their concerns.

West Tyrone MLA Daniel McCrossan was one of the politicians who put out a warning on his social media, even claiming that the post was a “scam”.

In a Facebook post that was later deleted, Mr McCrossan said, “Do not answer these emails! This is a scam.

“Private and sensitive information should not be shared via email.

“DO NOT REPLY.”

This created confusion and panic among many who commented under the deleted post.

Some people had already provided private information that included bank statements, utility bills, their birth certificate and other private documentation.

One person commenting under the post said, “OMG, I fell for it and passed on my details.”

Another commenter said, “I got this in reference to my special needs son. If this is a joke it ain’t funny.”

Minister for the Economy, Gordon Lyons, who is in charge of the scheme, put a post on his social media explaining that the email sent out was not a scam and that he had spoken to his officials about it.

The Minister said, “Many people today will have received an email from the Spend Local team, requesting verification details. This is because they weren’t able to confirm your identity and are asking for a form of ID to be uploaded.

“Don’t worry, this is NOT a scam. A lot of people are attempting to upload evidence this evening so please be patient if you encounter any difficulties.

“I am keeping in touch with officials and will update you with any further information on this.”

In a statement to the UlsterHerald today, Mr  McCrossan said he wanted to make sure his constituents were safe after seeing some people being scammed for thousands of pounds in the last few months.

The SDLP MLA said,“Last night, I and many elected representatives received huge volumes of messages, calls and emails from constituents who were concerned about an email they received requesting private details for the high street voucher scheme to verify their ID. Considering the significant and daily number of online scams, people were right to question the legitimacy of the email and to be very careful.

“In recent months I’ve seen people scammed for significant sums of money. One vulnerable individual here in West Tyrone lost almost £11,000. Therefore I always encourage vigilance when it comes to sharing details online.

“I contacted the Minister for the Economy who checked the validity of the emails and then confirmed they were from the department. I rightly asked people to hold back replying to the emails until I verified they were legitimate.

“Given past experiences of constituents, I will always ask people to be careful online. On this occasion I believe I was right to check and to verify and I’d like to thank everyone who raised this with me and were extra careful before sharing details.”