Bank of Ireland is warning about a new wave of fraud that has been targeting customers of banks in Europe, the UK, the US, Australia, and New Zealand and is now in operation in Ireland. The fraudsters are mainly targeting business banking customers at this time, duping them into allowing remote access to their computers and bank accounts.
Reports of this type of scam to Bank of Ireland’s fraud line are increasing daily, as the fraud gang target Irish customers.
This spike in fraudulent activity has occurred as Bank of Ireland launch a major national fraud awareness campaign to warn customers of the prevalence of fraud, with 96% of consumers believing they will be targeted in the next six months, and 82% saying they are targeted at least once per month.
What happens?
- The customer gets a phone call from someone claiming to be from Bank of Ireland.
- The caller asks the customer to log into their online banking as normal.
- The caller (fraudster) then asks the customer to go to another new website address, saying that this is: “for a live chat service” or “to verify the customer’s PC”, but in reality it allows the fraudster remote access to the customer’s PC. The fraudster can now see the customer’s screen and access all of the customer’s files and programmes.
- The caller will set up payments on the customer’s online banking and ask the customer to read out the one-time codes from their BOI app to approve the payments.Bank of Ireland’s advice
- If you get a call from someone who asks you to go to a website or to click on a link that they will send to you, just hang up.
- Never allow a caller to take remote access of your PC.
- If someone asks you for a one-time code from your online banking app, they are a fraudster. Never, ever share those codes with anyone, even if they say they are from Bank of Ireland.
- Be very careful when logging on to your online banking website. The safest thing is to type in the website address yourself or to log in through the main Bank of Ireland website at bankofireland.com
Commenting on the current wave of fraudulent messages, Nicola Sadlier, Head of Fraud, Bank of Ireland said: “Fraudsters operate a range of scams that target people, all designed to access people’s bank account details or dupe them into transferring money. This new scam is of particular concern as fraudsters are convincing people to allow access to their PCs via a fake ‘live chat’, where they can access Business customers’ online banking, and other personal files and information.
“We are urging customers to take extra care when logging into their online banking, to ensure it is a legitimate site. People are currently being directed to fake sites, receiving follow-up phone calls from fraudsters and then being convinced to allow remote access. This scam is multi-layered and the international nature of the scam shows that it has been highly effective for the fraudsters elsewhere.
“Unfortunately fraud has become an everyday part of people’s lives. We know that 96% of people surveyed by Red C say they expect to be personally targeted by a fraudster in the next six months and 82% say they receive a fraudulent attempt at least once a month. Most people who have been a victim of fraud said they fell for the scam because they were distracted or too busy at the time. Which underlines the need for vigilance.
That’s why we are reminding customers that, often, all is not what it seems while fraudsters continue to masquerade as trusted businesses and organisations. The message is: Stop, Think, Check – access your banking only through the official website or by typing in a website address and treat every unsolicited call, text or email as a potential fraud attempt”.
Bank of Ireland has introduced a new national advertising campaign reminding customers that fraudsters are active on a daily basis and to ‘Stop, Think, Check’ in all transactions relating to their banking or personal information.
For more advice and information on fraud, visit Security Zone