"It just got worse and worse and worse."

There seems to be a never-ending trail of scams and hack attempts; sadly the people behind it are getting better at making them look real. Niall Fitzmaurice (@nfitzm) fell victim of one such scam, and has shared his AIB fraud story on Twitter, with the hopes of spreading the word as his entire life savings were ransacked.

In his first tweet he said that, "I never thought I could possibly be a victim of fraud but these guys were absolute experts."

Niall's AIB Fraud Story

In a long Twitter thread, Fitzmaurice explained what happened to him. After not seeing a text from AIB he says he received a phone call from "AIB", using a Dublin number, saying that there was unusual activity on his account. The hackers had access to his transaction history and were able to tell Fitzmaurice his details, asking only for him to confirm them. They didn't ask for pin codes or passwords, and finally said they could cancel the card and send him a new one, once he'd put his card into his AIB card holder.

The following day Fitzmaurice received a call from AIB; this time it really was the bank checking out unusual activity. When Fitzmaurice told them he had already spoken with them, he was informed those people had been hackers.

While AIB were able to block one of the more recent transactions, but the others had already gone through. When Fitzmaurice looked at his account he saw that his saving had been ransacked; large amounts of money had been transferred out.

He was then told to report the AIB fraud to the Gardaí and that most of the money stolen should be reimbursed. At the end of it all, he said he could only look at his raided account and fight back tears.

Fitzmaurice's story serves as a warning for those to be wary if they receive a similar text or call. You can read the thread in its entirety HERE.

AIB Statement

Lovin reached out to AIB for comment on the issue of fraudsters and online hacking. A spokesperson put together the following statement:

"At AIB, we are committed to protecting customers against the threats associated with fraud. Customers can view www.aib.ie/security-centre for details of specific current security threats to our customers and alerts that they should be aware of. We work closely with the Gardai to prevent fraud.

Very sophisticated fraudsters target people by sending text messages claiming to be AIB and/or other legitimate companies. AIB never send links in unsolicited texts or emails requesting online banking and card details or for the return of a card.  We urge customers to be vigilant at all times, and never to click on a link that appears in a thread and give their details.

We urge customers to contact us as soon as possible if they feel they may be a victim of a scam. By customers contacting us promptly, AIB can endeavour to prevent a fraudulent payment from processing, and in many cases, we have secured a positive outcome for customers. Unfortunately in some cases it may be too late, and the payment has already been received by the fraudsters and withdrawn from the fraudulent account.

Where customers have been scammed, we will deal sympathetically with them on a case-by-case basis. To date, we have a strong record in protecting our customers from fraud. However, we must all remain vigilant.

We investigate all instances on a case by case basis.  In this instance the customer will not be liable and will be fully reimbursed.”

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