LAST UPDATE | 2 Apr

THE PUBLIC IS being warned about a new scam in which criminals are posing as landlords and requesting deposits to secure fake property viewings.

AIB issued the warning as part of the bank’s Fraud Trend series and said these scammers are using legitimate websites to secure money from people under the guise of a deposit attached to a fake or compromised property listing. 

The scammers are claiming that these small deposit are required secure viewings and prevent no-shows. The fraud is usually committed when people are invited to enter card details to pay

In the next step the customer receives a call claiming to be from their bank saying their account has been compromised and asking to authorise a payment or provide online banking or card details.

The scammers than use this information to gain full access to the account where they can make payments, add devices and move money around. 

AIB are warning that being asked to pay a deposit to view a rental property is a major red flag and are encouraging people to exercise extreme caution if any payment requests are made to them. 

They are advising people to never pay to view a property and never give out banking details over the phone. 

Head of Financial Crime at AIB Mary McHale has warned that “scammers are getting more sophisticated, and it’s imperative that we don’t let them get one step ahead of us”.

She’s encouraging people to “stop, and wait a sec to double-check” if something doesn’t feel right and “don’t give in to pressure for your banking and security details on a phone call”.

“The best way to protect your money from being stolen is to remain vigilant.”

Last week, Banking and Payments Federation Ireland warned that fraudsters are increasingly following up scam emails with a phone call or text message to make their requests seem more urgent and believable, new figures show.

Irish SMEs lost almost €19m to email-related scams over the past two years, with invoice redirection and so-called CEO impersonation among the most common frauds.

In many cases, businesses receive what looks like a legitimate email from a supplier asking them to update bank details. The request is often followed up with a call or text, adding pressure to the business to act quickly.

When a real invoice arrives later, the payment ends up going to an account controlled by scammers.