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Investment Scam Warning – Criminals are using genuine AIB staff names in the latest scam

AIB urges people to exercise caution as a number of investment scams are in circulation. Most of these scams bear similar hallmarks with minor variations. In the current scams criminals are using a fake AIB email address with a real AIB staff name e.g. johndoe@aibirish.ie rather than johndoe@aib.ie. A person is contacted by a bad actor after filling out a contact form on a fake website purporting to offer investment products from legitimate, well-known names in financial services. The scammers often share sophisticated brochures and materials that appear legitimate. After the person fills out all the relevant ‘documents’, they are asked to transfer their money to an account which they later realise does not belong to the financial services firm and their money has been stolen. This often happens under a degree of time pressure, for example “to get the best rate of return”. Some of these scams also attempt to defraud customers seeking to invest in crypto currencies.

• AIB urges people to:
• Ensure you verify the contact details by checking the official company’s website.
• Do not call the number provided on the email. Search and confirm the phone number using the bank’s website.
• You can also cross reference email addresses to ensure they are aligned with the format of the firms existing email addresses as shown on their website.
• Ensure any website you use is secure and genuine by checking for the padlock symbol to the left of the web address and if it’s not there, beware.
• Check the advisor out, look them up to see if their business exists by ensuring their office location and telephone number are genuine.
• Call your bank before you make the payment and ask them to check the transaction and beneficiary account. This one call could save your money from being stolen by fraudsters.
• Check the Central Bank of Ireland’s consumer hub and its list of unauthorised firms for guidance on how to protect yourself from financial scams. Simply enter ‘search for unauthorised firms’ on centralbank.ie.
• Always seek investment advice from a regulated financial advisor even when recommendations are made by people you trust, such as family or friends.

Remote Access Warning

Criminals are calling people pretending to be from the bank advising that there is a problem with your account or a fraud payment. The purpose is to trick you into allowing them to install remote access software (e.g., Any Desk) on your computer. They then try to make payments themselves and convince you to authorise them by providing codes from your Card Reader.  Don’t Engage. Hang up. Warn your staff if you are a business.

• A call is received from a person purporting to be from your bank or a service provider like a utility company.
• They try to convince you they are genuine - sending texts confirming they are from the bank and ask questions like, what kind of devices you use for online banking?  or Tell you there is a payment leaving your account or that there is an Issue with your Internet Router.
• They try to get you to let them download software to fix the problem.
• The software enables them to login to your account remotely:
  • The name of one of the ones that they use is AnyDesk via AIB [or some version of the bank name].com
• They log into your online banking.
• They can see your transactions and use the information to convince you they are genuine.
• Their aim is to steal your money.

Never give codes from your Card Reader or Digipass to someone who calls you.