'She was in tears and well dressed'

'She was in tears and well dressed' - RTE Radio 1 callers tell Joe Duffy about scammers operating in Dublin

Multiple callers rang into Joe Duffy’s Liveline on Monday to complain about scammers using emotionally charged stories in a bid to con money off unsuspecting people, with a few callers ringing about the same ‘Canadian sounding’ woman.

Speaking on Monday’s edition of the popular lunchtime show, one caller rang to tell Joe how she had been out for one drink after work with friends in Dublin city last Thursday when a woman approached her with a sad story and that she needed bus money to get home.

“I was out for a pint after work with my friends,” the caller explained to Joe Duffy during the show.

“Then at 10pm I went to get a slice of pizza from the local place next door just off of Grafton Street, around the corner from the Weston Hotel.

“It was just myself and a woman in this well-lit affluent area, she was in tears. She was well dressed, bow in her hair, I asked her if she was okay and she told me she wasn’t and she told me her story that she was from Canada and also had the accent.

“She was over in Ireland visiting Dalkey where her dead father was from, who died from Parkinson's and wanted to bond with the area a bit more. She was on a pub crawl and lost her bank card, so she was out of money.

“She was staying in Wexford. It was 10pm, her bus was in half an hour and she needed €13.50 for the bus ride home and you are kind of looking at her going ‘you poor thing, you are in a city you don’t know.’

“I for once had cash on me, I never do. So I gave her the €20 I had in my wallet. Big hug, hope you get home safe and I asked for her phone number to make sure she got home safe.

“So I got her phone number and we went off our merry ways, and I texted her ‘Hey it's the girl who gave you €20 to get home to Wexford, hope you're doing okay and that Ireland treats you better.’

“And she texted back ‘F**k you’.”

Grafton Street near where the incident took place (Gareth Chaney/Collins)

As it turns out this wasn’t an isolated incident, with some other callers reaching out to the show to tell the radio host that they had similar experiences.

Another caller was on Henry Street in Dublin and explained a man approached him with a story about how he was approached by someone looking for €20 as his mother was dying in Athlone and he needed to get a train to get to her, however, when the man was offered a lift rather than the money, he allegedly ran off.

Another caller also believes that while cycling home in Dublin by the Molly Malone statue a woman who was crying and had a Canadian accent, who reported her partner had beat her and that she needed money to get a bus to Wexford.