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BoI customers fall victim to phishing scam
Tuesday, August 15 2006
by denise cox


Bank of Ireland customers have been hit by a new phishing
scam, which has already cost some of its customers more than
of EUR110,000. 





The bank issued a security alert; however, the bulletin
came too late for several BoI customers. In total, some
EUR113,000 is believed to have been lost by account holders
responding to the fake e-mail. One customer claims to have
lost over EUR49,000 after inadvertently handing over bank
details to a bogus website.  Others reported losses from
between EUR5,000 to EUR16,900. 





However, the bank would not confirm any details of the
reported losses, as it refuses to discuss individual cases.
Gardai have launched an investigation into the fraud.  





Phishing attacks attempt to fool internet users into
revealing sensitive information, such as log on codes and
passwords for online banking, using e-mails and websites that
appear to be legitimate. 





In a statement, the bank said: "Bank of Ireland takes
internet fraud extremely seriously and works closely with the
Gardai to close such sites immediately. All reported
incidents where customers have responded to such an e-mail
are immediately investigated by Bank of Ireland and reported
to the Gardai."





These measures may not be enough for the victims of the
fraud. According to recent reports, BoI has refused to
compensate its customers for the missing cash. It could now
be facing a compensation claim from those hit by the losses,
and a complaint has been made to the Ombudsman for Financial
Services. 





Bank of Ireland, like other financial institutions, is no
stranger to phishing scams, and has previously warned
customers that it does not ask for account details in such a
way and that they should not give out confidential
information, such as log-on details, to any website that
requests it. 





Other Irish institutions have been the target of phishing
attacks in the past, including Ulster Bank and AIB. However,
previous reports indicate that the success rate for the
scammers was quite low. The financial institutions have
attributed this to the high level of awareness of the dangers
by customers. 





Certainly BoI is not the only bank to have been hit in recent
weeks either; AIB has already issued an alert to its
customers regarding a new phishing scam in the past few days,
while online bank RaboDirect is also warning of a website
masquerading as the log-in site for the bank. An e-mail
asking customers to update their details at the site has been
doing the rounds.