Scams in Ireland: warning after someone clicks on the text “from the bank” and wipes their account within hours

A person from Cork had their bank account deleted after clicking on a link in a fraudulent text.

The victim received a message purporting to be from his bank and followed the instructions to click on the link provided.

Hours later, they received a call from the actual bank telling them that their account had been wiped out, with a five-digit amount of money missing.

Speaking to Patricia Messinger on C103’s Cork Today Show, Sergeant John Kelly said: “The caller got a text claiming to be from the bank, he clicked on the link and within an hour or two he got received a real phone call from his own bank.

“Be very, very aware, they’re still there with those text messages, just delete them immediately – your bank won’t text you that way.”

AIB, Bank of Ireland and all other major banking organizations have warned customers not to click links in text messages in recent months.

Fraudulent calls and texts have been on the rise since the start of the pandemic, crime statistics for the first quarter of 2021 show there has been a 40% increase in fraud offenses in Ireland during the year until June 2021 compared to the previous year.

The increase mainly occurred in Q1 and Q2 of this year and mainly relates to fraudulent attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or over the phone as well as the fraudulent use of credit and debit card information.