Bank of Ireland warns of ‘unprecedented spike’ in fraud

Bank of Ireland has issued a warning to the public advising extra caution around fraudulent text messages in circulation this week.

There has been a spike in ‘smishing’, where fraudsters send fake text messages, which appear to come from Bank of Ireland, and direct customers to fake websites imitating Bank of Ireland websites.

Since last month, the number of new ‘phishing’ websites detected by Bank of Ireland’s Fraud Prevention team has doubled, with an unprecedented increase in activity in the last week and up to 20 new fraudulent sites appearing per day.

It's important to remember that Bank of Ireland will never:

• Send you a text or email with a link directly to the login page of our online banking channels to confirm banking details or ask you to update their banking details

• Ask you to click a link in an email with an urgent warning about suspicious activity on your account

• Ask you to transfer money out of your account to protect you from fraud

• Ask you to tell us any ‘one-time password’ or code that you have received from us by text

Edel McDermott, Head of Group Fraud, Bank of Ireland said: “We are seeing an alarming increase in the level of fraudulent activity this year. May and June are showing a worrying upward trend in activity. Our teams are working hard to respond to these spikes and intercept fraud attempts but unfortunately, if customers click on links and provide personal banking details, recovery is not always possible”.

What to do if you do receive a message like this:

• Do not click on links or to respond to SMS text messages, which are designed to appear as if sent by the bank and look like originating from a genuine phone number

• If you get a suspicious text please email a screenshot of the text to 365Security@boi.com and then delete the text

• If you think you may have given away any of your banking details please call our 24/7 Freephone line 1800 946 764 immediately.

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• bank of ireland
• Fraud
• smishing