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GARDAÍ ARE ADVISING members of the public to be vigitant due to “very high” levels of text message scams.
The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) have been contacted by numerous banks and financial institutions over the text message – or ‘smishing’ – fraud.
According to gardaí, rather than placing links within the fraudulent text, fraudsters are issuing phone numbers for customers to ring in order to resolve an alleged issue with the customer’s account.
When customers then ring the number, automated music and voice messages mimic the bank in question making the experience very convincing. When an agent answers the phone, they then scam customers into divulging their banking and security credentials.
Gardaí is advising customers to be extra vigilant.
They said the fraudulent text messages can often appear within a previous, genuine thread of texts, and can contain phone numbers to call which are not the genuine bank numbers.
Anyone who receives a text message like this is advised to call their bank and check to see if the number is a genuine bank number. This can be verified on the bank’s website.
Customers are advised that financial institutions will never ask them to hand over security details over the phone.
Anyone who has responded to a text message that they believe is fraudulent should contact their bank as soon as possible.
Gardaí said there are “numerous” smishing scams in operation purporting to be from banks, delivery companies and couriers, utility providers and government agencies.
They are reminding the public to always be wary of texts from unknown senders, and unusual requests that can even appear in the thread of previous genuine texts.
A garda spokesperson said that people should never ever click on links in a text and never ring a number contained in a text.
They should never ever give away their personal data, such as bank details, PIN numbers, passwords, one time codes, PPS number or Eircode, or transfer money.
If a caller purports to be a son or daughter seeking money, the person should hang up and try and make contact with your child or their friends.
Gardaí are also advising the public to be wary of cold calls, and to always ask the caller their name and for their phone number.
If they have any concerns, they should hang up and ring their bank or service provider using the number on their last bill or bank statement. Just because a number looks like an Irish number doesn’t mean it is, a garda spokesperson said.
People are also advised never to download any apps that give fraudsters control of their device.
If someone has been a victim, they should change your passwords and PIN codes, report it to their bank as soon as possible and ask them to do a recall.
Gardaí also urged the public to report any suspected incidents of fraud directly to them.
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I got a text message this morning concerning a pigeon in my bank account, but on the plus side I won $93m Ugandan Dollars.
I keep on getting calls from a number in Belgium. When I googled it it turns out to be a Porche dealership!
@Me Me: I’ve got at least 7 calls from Belgium also …..
@james rowan:
Yep, regular occurrence. Got one 50 minutes ago.
@Me Me: “well may you drive”
@Me Me: Scammers may use ‘number spoofing’ to make it seem as though a text comes from another number. (google “number spoofing scams”)
Got a couple of calls and a message pretending to be Ptsb asking me to call a number. Can see how someone could fall for it! Some horrible people to do that,scammers are the lowest of the low. More needs to be done to tackle these vermin
@CP: a lot is already done, with Interpol and others. Scam call centres have been raided regularly in Georgia, India and elsewhere. But they keep trafficking, recruiting and exploiting people in many more countries. New slavery, extremely hard to get at.
The real scammers are not the guys contacting you, they are their traffickers.
@Jerry LeFrog: this could be stamped out by the telephone companies very easily but they won’t do it. One example, if you can be ex directory, why can’t you choose which countries are allowed call your phone? or, why can’t you block countries you’re never likely to call or call back?
I have received PTSB and Gov texts in the last two days along with the odd phone call from Belgium, be vigilant folks.
Good idea to listen to the caller carefully as they usually use a script and can hesitate when you ask questions that are not in it. Emails and texts usually have spelling or punctuation errors.
Also be aware of the Cadbury Christmas Hamper scam doing the rounds through WhatsApp DO NOT CLICK THE LINK. apparently everyone wins the hamper then they ask for details. I read somewhere it’s a Russian scan. Then there’s the DHL scam I see people resharing on FB
My Mum is inundated with these calls and msgs and is seriously stressing out to the point that she started crying one day (she’s only in her early 60s). Especially because of the time of the year, she’s terrified of missing a call from a delivery service for example. I told her to stop stressing as if it’s a genuine caller, they will leave a voicemail. I also went through her phone (at her request) and couldn’t believe the amount of ridiculous spam she was receiving… she innocently clicked into some articles from various red tops and obviously accepted all cookies. I would advise people to be very selective on what sites they frequent as so many dodge ones sell on your data.
@Donna Fallon: There are some free tools which can check if your info is being shared on the dark web.
https://www.aura.com/ does a free 2 week trial.
(google “check for personal information on dark web”)
They are very busy in Calcutta,and Mumbai.
The scammers can probably get AI to do their dirty work now as well. Evil bs
been helping a Nigerian prince for a few years, lovely lad
They should warm more about drivers being distracted by their phones
@Gavin Gray:
People have been warned many times,but choose to do it anyway.
I love screwing around and scambaiting them. A lot more fun than ignoring.
@Daniel Skelton: can be funny when you’ve some spare time. At least when you keep them busy they can’t harm anyone else
@Daniel Skelton: it’s not just me so lol, good fun dragging them along wasting their time
@CP: so you enjoy playing games with what are practically slaves in a sweatshop with overlords. Sock it to them buddy. GAL!
Be careful, a hack going around at present, again from a Belgian number, tries to get a download onto your computer. The app is called Anydesk and enables the hacker to access everything. Just had my own computer cleansed of it fully.
@Richard Starling: there is also a pop up mimicking McAfee antivirus saying a virus has been found, click here to get rid of it. I closed the Web browser and ran a real scan, nothing to be found. It’s very convincing looking
Vigilante! Don’t make me laugh.
Image this, you report your SA to An Garda Siochana only for them to turn around and tell you at the end of the interview that there would be no prosecution in your case before any investigation was even conducted.
The Garda then asks you where your assaulter lives and wishes you the best of luck with that.
To the people of east Laois/south Kildare you have a PDO Ring and a SA gang operating unchallenged and with impunity in your community.
They are all Irish locals. Minimum of 4/5 people involved. One of them is deceased.
An Garda Siochana won’t step to them, the street’s will.
Merry Christmas.
Somebody call the Beekeeper…
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