Council warns of bogus household charge collectors

Cavan County Council is warning homeowners that thieves are posing as household-charge collectors at the doors of hard-up families. The council says that it received a complaint of a man calling to the door of a home just before Christmas saying that they were a council official collecting the controversial charge - but no council collections are being made door-to-door. The council is also warning people to be wary of bogus texts, emails and phone calls. A council spokesperson said: "If you receive a telephone call, text or email requesting bank details, account numbers or any other personal information, please do not respond and report the incident to Cavan County Council or An Garda Síochána." Garda Superintendent Jimmy Coen says people should be vigilant of anyone calling to their door purporting to be from organisations and should always ask for identification. "We would ask everyone to be vigilant of callers like this, especially elderly people, and would urge them to make sure they check for identification and if they are suspicious to alert their local Garda station and we will investigate it." A council spokesperson said that no staff have as yet called on any householder regarding the charge and if anyone does to alert them immediately