Mother of two falls for online bank scammers

A city woman living in the county was scammed out of almost €3,000 in the latest online banking and text message fraud scam doing the rounds.

The mother of two was the victim of the latest AIB scam that is targeting people across Ireland – and particularly the West.

Fraudsters send text messages to people’s phones, purporting to be from the financial institution, and then skim money from their bank account.

The woman – who asked not to be named – used to work for a bank, and said the message was very realistic, and did not look suspicious.

“I’m the one always telling my mother not to open links, and now I got caught. I felt so stupid,” she told the Galway City Tribune.

In the latest ruse, victims are sent a text message purporting to be from AIB. It reads: “Your online access has been blocked for the time being. Visit revokedaib.com for more information on how to regain access.”

The Galway woman clicked on the link, and later discovered that she had some €2,997 skimmed automatically from her AIB bank account.

The figure was just shy of €3,000 because that was the highest amount she can transfer on her account and anything over €3,000 would trigger an alert in AIB.

She said that she was ‘rattled’ by the experience because she had dealt with similar cases while working in another financial institution.

“I’m in complete shock; it was so convincing. I watched Tinder Swindler last night (a Netflix drama about a romance fraudster), and it’s ironic how I got stung today,” she said.

Galway Gardaí – and Garda Press Office nationally – have been warning of an upswing in online fraud activity in recent weeks.

Garda Chief Superintendent Tom Curley told this month’s County Galway Joint Policing Committee that hundreds of people in Galway were victims of fraud online and through mobile phones. And he said that tens of thousands of Euros was stolen through this technology fraud.

He advised people not to respond or click on links from text messages from companies or organisations.

“Don’t click the links – that’s the advice,” said Chief Supt Curley.

Gardaí have advised the public to be wary of texts, even if it is in a thread that includes previous genuine messages from your bank.

People are asked to never click links, because they are accessing cloned websites, and to never ever give away personal data like PINs or passwords. AIB will not send text messages containing links, and victims of fraud are asked to change their passwords and report it to Gardaí.

It’s understood the latest scam targeting AIB customers is “the best yet”, according to sources in the bank who have formed a team at HQ in Dublin to target the illegal activity.

The Galway victim added: “I got an awful fright at how incredibly easy it was to access our online accounts. Do not follow any link or trust anyone on your phone.”