Gardaí have warned the public to be “extra vigilant” about high levels of text messaging scams that can often appear within a genuine thread.
An Garda Síochána, through the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau has been recently contacted by numerous banks and financial institutions who are experiencing “very high levels” of smishing (text message) fraud.
While people may be familiar with fraudulent links within text messages, there seems to be an increased number of fraudsters issuing phone numbers for customers to ring.
In the text, they are mentioning that this will resolve an alleged issue with the customer’s bank account. Gardaí provided examples of the text messages, which can be seen below.
When customers then ring the number, automated music and voice messages mimic the bank in question making the experience very convincing. A fake agent then scams customers into divulging their banking and security credentials.
Gardaí have reminded the public that financial institutions will never ask someone to hand over security details over the phone.
The following advice has been issued to the public:
- Never click on links in a text;
- Never ring a number contained in a text;
- Never give away personal data (bank details, PIN numbers, passwords, one time codes, PPS number, Eircode, etc);
- Do not transfer any money;
- If the caller purports to be a son or daughter seeking money, hang up and try and make contact with your child or their friends.
Along with smishing scams in operation purporting to be from banks, there are also messages circulating purporting to be delivery companies and couriers, utility providers and government agencies.
If someone were to respond to a text message that could potentially be fraudulent, they should contact the bank as soon as possible, according to gardaí.
Those receiving texts have been advised to “always be wary of texts from unknown senders”, and to contact An Garda Síochána directly to report incidences of fraud.