A business owner from Co Donegal has described her shock at falling victim to a text message scam.
It comes as the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) plans to block text messages from unregistered senders later this year in an effort to prevent text message scams.
ComReg is developing a SMS Sender ID Register, to which service operators and aggregators must register.
From 3 July, SMS texts from unregistered Sender IDs will be labelled "likely scam" and from 3 October, they will be blocked entirely.
Róisín Gillen is the owner of Pretty Baked Bakery in Donegal town. She was the victim of a scam text message, which purported to come from gov.ie.
"I received the government electricity credit on Wednesday and then on Sunday morning, I received a message which appeared to come from gov.ie. It said I could apply for the same credit this year," explained Róisín.
"It brought me to the gov.ie website with all the information about the credit and then asked for bank details. I entered some of the bank details and that is when everything froze. I realised something was wrong."
Róisín said she froze her account and then received a call shortly after.
"I received a phone call from someone saying that they were AIB and that my account had been hacked and that they needed some information to secure my account," the Donegal woman said.
"Again, I did not share any information with them on the phone. I didn't trust it was them, so I told them that I was going to hang up on them and call AIB myself after I got off the phone."
Róisín then saw the money was gone from her personal, savings and business accounts, and so she called AIB.
"They were amazing. They helped to secure my account. They found out that they [scammers] had sent the money to my saved contacts because they didn't have full access to my account."
The fraudsters had accessed Róisín's account through her registration and pin number.
As the scammers could not get full access to Róisin's account, they had sent all her money to her saved contacts. Róisín was then able to retrieve all the money back after a few days.
Róisín confessed that while she did not want to speak out she decided she wanted to spread awareness.
"I have never quite felt anything like it. It feels violating. Especially when you have spoken to them (scammers) on the phone. He seemed so legitimate and caring. It feels extremely violating.
"It really annoyed me that they (scammers) could prey so easily on people where they’re vulnerable," she added.
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Minister for Communications Patrick O'Donovan said department officials, ComReg and service providers are working to establish a system "that will hopefully go somewhere to weeding out (the issue of text message scams)".
Many organisations rely on text messaging to communicate with customers and clients, for financial transactions, updates and appointments.
ComReg said that fraudsters have compromised communications by inserting scam texts into legitimate SMS message threads to deceive customers.
A pre-registration process for the new SMS Register will end this evening and an online registration portal will be launched in the coming months.
Minister O'Donovan said: "Particularly vulnerable people, those living alone or in can be preyed upon by SMS messages, texts, emails and calls.
"It’s in everybody's interest to sign up to it (SMS Sender ID Registry). This is not something that we're doing in isolation. Other European countries are doing the same thing.
"It's about protection. It's not about preventing information being transferred."
ComReg estimates scam calls and texts cost Irish people more than €300 million per year.
'Disregard and do not engage'
More than 10,000 incidents of cyber-enabled crime were reported to gardaí in 2024.
Detective Garda Gerard McCready from the Letterkenny Division of An Garda Síochána advised never to assume a person who contacts you is who they say they are.
Det Gda McCready said: "Government agencies such as An Post, gov.ie, revenue, your own financial institutions will never contact you by text message asking to click a link or divulge information, such as passwords, pins, PPS, numbers, personal access codes.
"If you get those types of text messages with a blue link, disregard and do not engage with them."
Money Mules
Det Gda McCready also said there are multiple layers to fraud and criminals often target students or low-income earners to accept money into their bank account.
"Whenever fraudsters are getting access to their accounts, they need to move the money, and obviously, they won’t use their own account because it's going to lead back to them."
Gardaí said one process used by these criminals is to recruit money mules. The money mules are often younger people, those on low incomes or those new in the country.
Det Gda McCready said that whenever the garda investigation begins, those bank accounts are identified and the account holders are prosecuted in court for money laundering.
"That can have huge implications for young people's futures, when it comes to applying for mortgages or employment.
"Our advice is never to give your bank account details to a third party or never allow others to make transfers to your account if you can't verify that the funds are genuine," he added.
Frauds trends in 2024
Information provided by An Garda Síochána shows there was an increase in reported incidents of accommodation fraud, account takeover fraud and investment fraud last year.
Account takeover fraud will usually be facilitated through phishing/vishing/smishing in the first instance.
A spokesperson said: "If you think you have become a victim of a scam, you should stop all contact with the scammer straight away and do not send any more payments.
"If you paid by credit or debit card, tell your bank or card provider immediately. Protect your devices by resetting your passwords and update your antivirus software."
An Garda Síochána has also advised people to be suspicious of all 'too good to be true’ offers and deals.
The garda spokesperson also advised to "monitor your bank account regularly. Don’t wait until your bank statement or Visa bill comes to discover fraud".
