Weird/confusing letter recieved by eldery relative looking for personal information.

A

ajapale

Moderator
Messages
7,700
An elderly relative a recieved a very stange, confusing, (official sounding but somewhat menacing) letter looking for all manner of personal information (the name of her second son etc). Being the trusting type she duly provided the information and sent it off immediatley to some remote rural village in Co Monaghan Ballybay (?).

She lives alone and only contacted us after posting the information today.

She is now worried that she has become the victim of some kind of scam.

Has anyone else come across this?
 
Who did the letter purport to be from?

The only government offices in Ballybay is the Dept of the Environment.
 
This letter is not part of a scam. see attached from Dept of social protection website.

A new Public Services Card is being introduced which is initially replacing the Social Services Card used to collect social welfare payments and the Free Travel Pass.
The card was first introduced in 2012. It is currently being rolled out to people getting certain social welfare payments and to new applicants for other social welfare payments. Not all social welfare clients will get a Public Services Card immediately.
The Public Services Card is issued, by invitation only, in one of 2 ways:

  • Face-to-face registration – see ‘Registering for a Public Services Card’ below
  • Postal registration see ‘Postal registration’ below
 
All looks kosher to me...

http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Public-Services-Card_holder.aspx


Postal registration

Some current Department of Social Protection (DSP) clients can be issued with a Public Services Card by postal registration. If this applies to you the DSP may write to you asking your permission to use data that is already held by a government department (such as your passport photograph or Free Travel Pass photograph). If you give your consent to this data being used your Public Services Card can be issued directly by post and you do not need to visit an office to register in person. The letter will also ask you for answers to some security questions. These answers will be used to check your identity if you need to contact a DSP helpline.

If you have questions about the ‘postal’ registration process contact:

Department of Social Protection

Social Welfare Services Office
Main Streeet
Ballybay
Co. Monaghan


Locall:1890 800 124
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top