The Irish Payment Services Organisation (IPSO) has urged customers to be alert to a fresh email scam which attempts to obtain internet banking users' account information.
The scam, which is called 'phishing', entails millions of e-mails being sent out directing people to a website which looks identical to their bank's own online home page. A handful of bank customers in Ireland have received these e-mails over the last few days.
The e-mails advise consumers to 'update' or 'confirm' their account details by clicking on the bogus link in the e-mail. The sites are carbon copies of the original bank site and by entering names, account details and passwords, online customers allow the fraudsters behind them to go to the bank's real website and clean out their accounts.
Una Dillon, of IPSO Card Services advises consumers never to give out personal information over the internet and to avoid following links in e-mails. 'Always type the URL of the website you wish to visit into the navigation bar yourself', she says.
The scams are thought to operate out of Eastern Europe and Russia and are affecting numerous banks around Europe, with some Irish institutions affected.
