DART Users Warned Of Begging Scam On Irish Trains

Irish Rail has noticed some suspicious and aggressive activity in the form of begging on several DART trains, happening on many different routes across the greater Dublin area. 

The activity has become known as 'the tissue packet scam', and has been reported by Irish Rail to Gardaí.

According to 98fm, it revolves around at least two people, who place packets of tissues on every seat. When a commuter goes to sit down and moves the packet - the 'sellers' will say you must purchase the packet.

The people involved in the scam are understood to have been arrested by Gardaí in recent weeks.

A spokesperson for Irish Rail has come forward and said that they are well aware of the scam, and have been in contact with Gardaí:

“So far, I believe some people have been arrested by the gardaí over this but I’m unsure of the exact number. We were having some trouble around the Maynooth line for a while. But now, we would have seen a shift onto the Dart line.''

“Essentially, it’s a criminal gang posing as beggars. It would be sporadic enough but there have been arrests arising out of this behaviour. Irish Rail has also been using its own security to deal with the problem. But there are issues that security have to contend with. “These people can become quite hostile. When passengers decline to buy the tissues, there can be a lot of intimidation.”

If you notice such activity on train routes - please contact either Irish Rail Customer Contact Centre on +353 (0)1 8366222, or the local Garda Station. 

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