Irish bank customers have been warned about the newest text scam that is doing the rounds.
Of course, scam texts have been doing the rounds for years — and unless you actually have kids, the ‘hi mam’ texts are usually a way to smell a scam from miles away.
However, some are getting more sophisticated, with this newest one pretending to be from AIB about a bogus charge coming from a number that appears incredibly similar to the bank’s real Customer Connect phone number.
A user shared a screenshot of the text message to the Ireland reddit forum which reads that a transaction of over €900 was ‘paused.’
The potential victim is then asked to text back a ‘Y’ if the ‘charge’ is from them, but if not, they’re asked to call a phone number that looks similar to an Irish mobile number, with a +353 prefix.
‘Just got this, both numbers do not connect. The number it came from is very similar to the legit AIB customer care (0818) 724 724,’ the user wrote of the scam.
‘People who fall for these confirm their number is active, they are AIB customers, and possibly ring the number giving the scammers their voice and also potentially give them further PII by answering “security questions,”‘ one user pointed out, while another added: ‘I think for many elderly people the scams, when it involves some form of technology or smartphones, don’t have to be that good.’
‘Jokes on them. Like I would have 940 euro to spend on anything,’ another joked.
Gardaí recently had to issue a warning after scams involving QR codes were doing the rounds, advising people to avoid scanning ‘random’ QR codes that may be public.
‘Scammers stick fraudulent QR code stickers (“Quishing”) over real ones to redirect users to malicious payment portals,’ Gardaí shared.
‘Scanning the fake code redirects you to a cloned payment portal that steals your credit card info or installs malicious software on your phone.’
Gardaí added that QR codes were simply a translation of visual patterns into web addresses, which is often then used by fraudsters to scam people.
‘Always inspect physical QR codes in public places to ensure they aren’t stickers slapped over original signage!’ Gardaí urged.
