Spike in 'safe account' scam warning - BOI

Bank of Ireland has issued a warning over what it calls a dramatic increase in reports and cases of attempted so-called 'safe account' scams.

The lender is advising customers to be "on particular alert" for fraudulent texts that attempt to lure them into calling a fake bank phone line.

According to the bank, the scammer then attempts to dupe the account holder into transferring funds to a secondary account, in most cases Revolut, and in turn a ‘safe account’, which is controlled by a fraudster.

Bank of Ireland says there has been a tenfold rise in reports of type of scam in the past week.

Head of Fraud with Bank of Ireland Nicola Sadlier said "this week’s escalation has resulted in the highest number of reports in a single day of this particular type of fraud, so we need our customers and the general public to be vigilant and recognise the warning signs.

"Our main advice is to look out for these texts and do not call back. And remember that Bank of Ireland will never ask you to move your money to another account to keep it safe. If you think you have been a victim of fraud, call the bank’s fraud team immediately on the 24/7 freephone line 1800 946 764".

Such scams typically start with a customer receiving a text message requesting that they call a phone number about a suspicious transaction/or activity in their account.

The texts claim to be from Bank of Ireland and can drop into the thread of a genuine BOI text.

The content of these messages can include lines such as: "Did you login from a new device?"; "Do you recognise this transaction?"; or "A transaction for [value] to [merchant] was declined and your card has been placed on hold" - followed by "if this was not you / if you don’t recognise this / etc. please call us back on [callback phone number].

Callback numbers are usually landline numbers including 01 / 1800 / regional codes.

The callback number will be answered by someone claiming to be from Bank of Ireland, and that there has been suspicious transactions and the customer’s account is compromised.

The victim is then asked if they have a Revolut or other secondary account.

If they say yes, they are told that they should move all the money in their account into their own Revolut account or secondary account.

According to Bank of Ireland, the fraudster doesn’t ask for access to the customer’s account, and does not ask for any security details like PIN’s or codes, meaning they avoid common red flags associated with fraud.

The victim is then told they then need to move their money from their Revolut account to a new ‘safe’ account.