BOI issues urgent fraud alert as customers targeted by 'live chat' scams

Eva Osborne

Bank of Ireland has said fraudsters are calling customers pretending to be from the bank.

The fraudsters are claiming that people's accounts have been compromised, directing them to a live chat service or to download software to their computer, and asking for card details, online banking details, and activation codes.

The bank is warning businesses about a recent increase in ‘Live chat’ scams, stating that fraudsters are mainly targeting business banking customers with this scam and duping them into allowing remote access to their computers and bank accounts.

 What happens?

• The customer gets a phone call from someone claiming to be from Bank of Ireland;
• The caller asks the customer to log into their online banking as normal;
• The caller (fraudster) then asks the customer to go to another new website address, saying that this is: “for a live chat service” or “to verify the customer’s PC”, but in reality it allows the fraudster remote access to the customer’s PC. The fraudster can now see the customer’s screen and access all of the customer’s files and programmes;
• The caller will set up payments on the customer’s online banking and ask the customer to read out the one-time codes from their BOI app to approve the payments.

The bank is warning its customers that if they get a call from someone who asks them to go to a website or to click on a link that they send, to just hang up.

Customers should never allow a caller to take remote access of their PC and should never share one-time codes for the online banking app with anyone, even if they say they are from Bank of Ireland.

Head of fraud at Bank of Ireland, Nicola Sadlier, said: “We’ve had an increase in reports into our fraud line in recent days so we want to warn businesses in particular to be extremely alert to this scam.

"Fraudsters try to convince people to allow access to their PCs via a fake ‘live chat’, where they can then access business customers’ online banking, and other personal files and information.

"Never allow a caller to take remote access of your PC.  If someone asks you for a one-time code from your online banking app, they are a fraudster.  Never share those codes with anyone, even if they say they are from your bank. If you get a call like this, just hang up.”