Gary Prior. who is standing in the Ballinamore L.E.A, stated that a number of people in the area recieved phone calls in the middle of the night on Friday from a person who mentioned his campaign.

A man subsequently noticed around €2,500 had been transferred into an unknown bank account.

The woman went to AIB and found that two transactions of €4,500 had been made to various persons.

Over €10,000 in total was taken from victims in just three incidents.

The statement follows a number of messages circulating in the community claiming water supplies in the county had been contaminated.

A total of €40,000 was sent to scammers in recent weeks by victims.

Two separate incidents were reported to Gardaí in Longford and Roscommon last week.

The bank have closed the case.