The Bank of Ireland has issued a warning about a recent surge in text scams targeting account holders. These scams involve messages urging individuals to call a number regarding a transaction, leading them to divulge sensitive bank information. In April alone, the bank reported the closure of over 20 fake phone lines, marking a notable rise in fraudulent activity. Customers are encouraged to verify the legitimacy of received texts via Bank of Ireland's TextChecker service and should report suspected fraud immediately. Further, genuine bank inquiries will ask for a simple YES or NO response regarding transactions.
"We want to warn people as we are seeing a particular spike in these phone scams at the moment. We have seen more than 20 fake phonelines so far in April, that's a significant increase on other months," Bank of Ireland head of fraud Nicola Sadlier, said.
"If a customer needs to verify if any text message is legitimate, they can call their bank using the phone number on their bank card. Bank of Ireland customers can also use our TextChecker service."
"If someone suspects they have been a victim of fraud they should contact their bank immediately so that the bank can take action to stop a fraud in progress and try to recover funds," Ms Sadlier added.
"If we're suspicious about possible fraud on your debit or credit card, we might text you and ask you to confirm if you made a transaction, but all you have to do is reply YES or NO."
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