Our columnist Frank Brandon on the prevalence of online scams, a busy sporting weekend in Creggs… and (unrelated) pest problems!
I am the first to admit that when it comes to iPhones and iPads and broadband and apps and all those now everyday things, I haven’t a clue. When people discuss AI and the Internet and all the stuff that can happen on it, it more or less goes over my head.
One thing I know is that there seems to be hundreds of scams out there – including one that saw a woman think she was in a relationship with Coldplay’s Chris Martin, in which she handed over €25,000 to her imaginary lover for some bogus charity!
However last week when I opened an email that landed in both my junk and bin boxes, I have to admit that I got a bit of a fright. The gist of it was that they had very bad news for me because they had hacked everything that could be hacked about me, and they knew every detail about my bank accounts (they wouldn’t be much good to them), my PPS number, and information on all my family members. Furthermore, they informed me that I was very active on adult sites that I shouldn’t be on, and that if I didn’t pay $1500 by return they would expose me to the world as being that type of man.
Now I had no idea how they would have got my email address and so I rang my daughter Tara, to see whether or not they could have actually got my account number and PPS number. She told me immediately that it’s possible to get anyone’s email address and that it was obviously a scam.
Now I know it wasn’t the most sophisticated or elaborate scam of all time, but I suppose they might sometimes get lucky. If indeed I was a regular on those X-rated sites (which, by the way, I’m not), I might well have agreed to pay some money to keep things quiet.
As it was, I simply deleted the emails but I can’t deny that when I read the line “we have very bad news for you” my heart skipped a beat. I suppose the message has to be to stay alert and watch out for any stuff that doesn’t seem right. There seems to be no length that scammers won’t go to!
Community spirit to the fore on memorable weekend
It’s Monday morning, and I am just home from my four laps of the beautiful walk around the rugby club, reflecting on a weekend that has to be among the very best, if not the best, in the 50-year history of Creggs RFC.
Now I am conscious that some of my readers (at least two) have warned me not to write too much about sport, but this piece is not about sport – more about the positive impact sport can have on a tiny rural community.
It all started on Saturday morning, when a number of us golden oldies like myself and Paddy Hannon (he claims he’s too young to be a golden oldie) and several more were summoned to be on duty from 9.30 am to act as stewards for the Connacht U-12 blitz that was due to take place in Creggs that morning.
I had been out socialising on Friday night (won’t ever do it again), and so I was a tiny bit late in arriving for my duty, and was amazed to see that even though the action wasn’t due to start until 10 am, the rugby club car park was already almost full. By the time the blitz actually started, every part of the village was covered by parked cars – literally as far as the eye could see in every direction. The car park at Gannon’s pub was packed; as I’ve said before, if you were an alien from outer space who just landed on earth you would have thought that Creggs was the centre of this universe!
There were several buses and 27 different groups had children there, and in total, 430 kids took part in a hugely enjoyable day’s rugby.
The economic spin-off for the village was huge, with Mikeen’s, Gannon’s, and the new cafe in the club itself all benefitting from the huge influx of people. A lot of the 430 participating children had parents or other relatives with them, and on a cold but dry winter’s morning cups of coffee and little snacks (or even the full Irish) were an absolute must.
As for us golden oldies, we helped with parking and keeping some order on the proceedings. On a personal level, I think it’s imperative that the proposed pedestrian crossing at the top of the village gets installed immediately. The traffic that comes in the Glenamaddy road is invariably coming in pretty fast, and as the children from the buses and cars in Gannon’s car park cross over at that corner, a pedestrian crossing would be a godsend. If anyone from Galway County Council reads this, please act quickly and get the crossing sorted out asap!
It appears that we are going to host several Connacht Schools finals in the next few weeks, and upwards of 1000 people are expected to attend those games – there is no doubt that we need that pedestrian crossing as a matter of urgency, so please politicians, get it done.
I travelled to Cortoon again after my spell of duty was up to see my grandchild Riley take part in another Little Kickers session (as mentioned here last week), which again was great craic and thoroughly enjoyable. I’m told that the Connacht Senior second row Joe Joyce turned up in Creggs after my departure and was a huge hit with everyone, posing for photos with the children, and even with some adults. He seemingly created a very positive impression!
Anyway, everything went off very smoothly at the blitz, and so fast-forward to Sunday morning when, for a small club, the dilemma facing our supporters was huge.
At 12.30 pm, our ladies team was to play a big league final in Castlebar – at the same time our first men’s team was to play a Connacht junior cup semi-final in Ballinrobe, and our men’s seconds had a Plate quarter-final in Headford.
After much soul-searching, I decided that the ladies and the firsts would be well supported in their hugely important games, and so I headed off to Headford where I was rewarded with a performance full of commitment, grit, and determination, along with a large dose of skill, where our seconds brought off a win that ranks with our best victories of all time.
As I headed to the Galway town, I have to admit that I was sceptical, at best, of our chances – particularly as our firsts had found the same team, Corrib (that’s what Headford are called), a tough nut to crack in the first round of the Junior Cup. So to come away with a 25-12 point win was bordering on the miraculous!
Our firsts also won their semi-final in Ballinrobe to qualify for the cup final against Dunmore, who were surprise winners of their semi-final out in Clifden, where they downed the fancied All-Blacks. Sadly, the ladies lost out in Castlebar, but injuries played a huge part in that defeat, and they were right in the game until the closing stages when without some of their key players they conceded a couple of late scores.
However both of the men’s teams did the business, and it’s ironic that ourselves and neighbouring Dunmore, both of whom are celebrating their 50th anniversary, should be going forward to meet in the final at the end of March. The seconds now have a semi-final at home against University of Galway’s first team (not yet fixed), and it is almost unbelievable to find ourselves in such a position. Throw in the fact that the firsts have a huge league game this weekend against Tuam in Creggs on Sunday at 2.30 pm, and that they could conceivably have a league final fixture in the coming few weeks – and the month of March could be hugely significant in our overall season.
For now, Sunday’s achievements were just fantastic, and were properly celebrated in Creggs last night. Well done everyone – and here’s to some more stupendous victories!
And finally…
A couple of years ago, you may recall that I had to call on the services of AOK (Alan O’Keeffe) pest control to get rid of two large nests of wasps from my garden: that wasn’t so bad looking back, as last week in Sydney 102 venomous snakes were removed from a suburban back garden.
The garden owner, David Stein, called in pest control experts after seeing six snakes moving around in a pile of mulch, only for them to find another 96 baby snakes hidden inside. He has vowed to get rid of the mulch as it’s feared it could attract other snakes to move in again.
As the summer is (hopefully) coming, it makes me think that a couple of nests of wasps aren’t so bad after all!
‘Till next week,
Bye for now
