The alert from the bank below provides more information on the type of fraud, and guidance for what to do if you are targeted. The Law Society is  aware of similar attacks in recent weeks and issued relevant alerts to the profession. Solicitors can also access cyber security resources from the Law Society.

Bank of Ireland fraud alert - online banking ‘remote access’ fraud attempts

If you get a phone call from someone saying they are from your bank and the caller asks you to go to a website to start a live chat or to download software to your computer, hang up straight away.

If you download remote access software to your computer, fraudsters can use it to gain access to your system. Please be vigilant to this type of fraud at this time.

Please remember to never, ever give anyone a one-time code to authorise a payment, no matter who they say they are or why they say they need the code.

Fraudsters will make up reasons as to why they need one-time codes. They may say they need the code to reset your bank accounts, improve security on your computer, or for other reasons.

None of these reasons are true. If anyone calls and asks you for a one-time code, they are a fraudster. Hang up, and call your bank immediately.

More detail about how this scam works

The customer gets a phone call from someone claiming to be from their bank.

The caller (fraudster) might say that they are contacting the customer about a suspicious payment or tell the customer that they need to carry out some steps to protect the customer’s account.

The caller asks the customer to go to a website saying that it is for a live chat service or to verify the customer’s PC. These websites are designed to look realistic. We have included some examples of fraudulent websites built by criminals to resemble Bank of Ireland websites. Unfortunately, fraudsters build realistic-looking websites like these for all banks.

The caller asks the customer to click on the “Open Live Chat” button on the website. Clicking on that button will start a download of remote access software to the customer’s PC.

The caller asks the customer to allow remote access which lets the caller see and control the customer’s PC.

The caller asks the customer to log into their online banking and then takes control of the PC to make payments from the customer’s bank account.

The caller asks the customer to read out one-time codes to approve new payees and to make payments.

Advice

If you get a call from someone who asks you to go to a website or to click on a link that they will send to you, just hang up.

Never allow a caller to take remote access of your PC. 

If someone calls and asks you for a one-time code from your online banking app, they are a fraudster. Never, ever share those codes with anyone, even if they say they are from your bank.

Examples

Here are two recent examples of websites used in this scam.