Members of the public are being asked to be vigilant about a telephone scam to obtain bank information.

A well known retailer in Ireland has received numerous calls from members of the public, stating that they received a telephone call to their landline from an individual purporting to be a "security manager" from the store.

The members of the public say they were informed by the "Security Manager" that there was an attempted fraudulent use of their debit or credit card in the store.

Over 30 people have made contact with the retailer so far.

In some cases, the member of the public has been asked to provide personal financial detail.

If they decline, the "security manager" advises the member of the public to either make contact with their financial institution using the telephone number on the reverse of their card, or alternatively contact the gardaí.

But after the the customer then hangs up and assumes they are phoning either the bank or gardaí, the fraudulent caller has not terminated the original call and remains active on the line.

The victim then discloses their personal banking details to the fraudster or an accomplice who has remained on the line.

This has seen sharing their personal information with fraudsters, and in some cases complying with requests to transfer money out of their accounts.

The scam, known as 'vishing', is the use of the telephone by criminals to get people to provide personal information in an effort to steal this information or commit fraud.

This is a separate term to 'phishing', which is the e-mail version of this fraud.

Detective Garda Michael Walsh says the scam has been brought to their attention in the last few weeks.