BoI targeted by new phishing scam

20-05-2005

by Ciara O'Brien

Bank of Ireland has warned its customers to be vigilant after it emerged that the bank had been targeted by a 'phishing' scam attempting to steal bank details.

Some customers received an e-mail claiming to be from the financial institution, which purports to be checking the validity of customer e-mail addresses. The bogus message redirects customers to a website posing as BoI's Banking365 service, where customers are asked to enter their personal information.

Bank of Ireland has however reiterated that it does not request details from its customers in this way. A spokeswoman for Bank of Ireland said that the company is working closely with the Gardai on the matter, and is attempting to have the website associated with the apparent scam shut down. There has been no security breach on the Bank of Ireland site, the bank said.

It is not yet known how many people have fallen victim to the scam; the bank said that one or two customers had already been in contact with BoI to confirm that they had received the e-mail, but had deleted it.

"We think there is reasonably good awareness [of the scams]," said the spokesperson. Anyone who is concerned that they may have inadvertently handed over their personal banking details can contact Bank of Ireland on 1890 365 365, or +353 1 4622365 for those outside Ireland.

Phishing scams are relatively new to Ireland, but experts have warned that they may be on the increase. This is the third such scam aimed at Bank of Ireland in the past 18 months, the spokeswoman said. This latest site is believed to have originated in Russia. AIB has also been targeted in the past.

A report from the Anti-Phishing Working Group published earlier this year found more than global incidences of phishing sites had increased by 42 percent from December 2004 to January 2005, when 2,560 sites were identified. The report also claimed that the average phishing site remained online for only six days, with one site staying active for 31 days.