Bank of Ireland says it will reimburse customers affected by a 'smishing' text scam.
This saw criminals put fraudulent texts into a genuine Bank of Ireland text thread, which has been active during COVID-19, in order to get access to confidential information and access funds.
The bank says while this type of scam has been around for many years, the volume of 'smishing' has increased significantly.
Where fraudsters gain access to confidential information they move quickly to extract funds.
A new awareness campaign will advise customers on how to protect themselves from fraud - including through text 'smishing' attacks.
Starting this week, the campaign will include e-mails and letters to Bank of Ireland customers, reinforced through a social media campaign.
The bank says it also works very closely with An Garda Síochána and international authorities to combat fraud.
While in approximately three in four cases where fraud occurs, Bank of Ireland recovers all or part of the stolen funds.
Gavin Kelly is CEO of retail for Bank of Ireland: "We have carried out a review into a recent smishing attack which has managed to defraud a number of customers.
"These cases have involved criminals inserting a fraudulent text into a thread containing genuine text messages from the bank.
"This tricked customers into divulging their confidential banking details.
"However, we also acknowledge that fraudsters have been particularly active during this period and as consumers, we have had many other pressing concerns to deal with through COVID-19.
"Therefore we will be reimbursing the customers for these losses and the bank will absorb the financial impact."
He adds: "Bank of Ireland will never text, send e-mails or call a customer looking for their confidential banking details."
The bank says it is not releasing details of how much money is to be reimbursed to customers.
