There has been a 132% increase in the amounts of ‘smishing’ reported to Gardaí this month.
An Garda Síochána and Allied Irish Banks are reporting a large increase in ‘smishing’ attacks on customers throughout the month of January.
‘Smishing’ essentially consists of customers receiving a text, usually asking for permission to block a fraudulent transmission, and requesting they click on a link that will require them to input codes from their card reader, or to enter their One Time Passcode (OTP).
This will be enough information for the scammers to gain access to the accounts and transfer money out.
If you do receive any such texts, customers are advise to contact their bank immediately.
As per the press release, Gardaí and AIB would like to advise account holders, as follows:
- Never disclose their Registration Number or Personal Access Code (PAC) or card information after clicking a link on a text
- Never generate codes from their AIB Card Reader to cancel transactions
- Never divulge their One Time Passcode (OTP) to cancel transactions
- AIB will never ask you not to log back into your account.
- AIB will never ask you to click on a link.
The statement also claims that there has been a 132% increase in the amounts of ‘smishing’ reported to Gardaí for the first 20 days of January 2021 as against the first 20 days of January in 2020.
This is an example of the type of text you could receive:
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