Gardaí have issued a warning of a scam circulating on email and via post where people are accused of sexual offences on minors and urged to contact a fake Garda email address.
The letter being received by people in various parts of the country appears to be printed on headed paper from Garda HQ in the Phoenix Park but officers are advising that the document is entirely fraudulent.
The letter states: "We have initiated legal proceedings against you following seizure by cyber-infiltration for: child pornography, paedophilia, cyber-pornography and exhibitionism.
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"For you information, the legislator has specified that if the crimes and offences provided for in the criminal code were committed by means of telecommunications network, the penalties provided for would be increased," it continues.
The letter goes on to say: "At the end of the investigation, we came to the conclusion that you committed these offenses, namely the possession, viewing, transmission and retrieval of images, videos of an exhibitionist nature, child pornography, via the internet by talking to minors under the age of 18."
People were also accused of talking to minors in chat sessions and exchanging "messages and scenes of masturbation" on webcams.
"It should be remembered that when obscene material is exposed to minors under the age of 16, this constitutes the offences of sexual exhibition, child pornography, paedophilia and cyberpornography, and these offences are severely punished by law. Many of the items recorded by cyber infiltration are substantial evidence of your offences," the correspondence continued.
The letter concludes by asking the recipient to respond to a fake Garda Commissioner email address or face an arrest warrant and detention.
"Please send evidence by email so that it can be examined and verified within a strict 48-hour period. After this time, we will be forced to send our report to the court in your area to issue and arrest warrant, which will result in your immediate arrest by the security police closest to your home.
"You will then be placed on the national sex offenders' register. In this case, your case will also be passed on to anti-paedophile organisations and the media. Please send your reply to the email address of the FEDPOL management."
Gardaí have responded to this sinister operation and said: "This is a new scam that is being received by people by email and via post. It is not issued by An Garda Síochana and it is designed to illicit fear and obtain money by deception. If you receive this type of email do not respond, delete it and block the sender."
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