Four in five people in Ireland say they have received a text, call or email in the last year that they believe was from fraudsters, according to an AIB survey.
A third of those surveyed by Amárach on behalf of AIB say they received a fraudulent communication from a bank or financial institution they were not a customer of, while 30% received a message claiming to be a technology company, and 22% purportedly from the Revenue Commissioners.
Sean Jevens, head, digital engagement, AIB, says: “More people are shopping or making payments online as a result of the Covid-19 restrictions, and fraudsters have seized on this opportunity to send consumers fraudulent messages."
However, 98% of people do not respond to fraudulent communications such as text, calls or emails. Nearly two thirds say they ignored the fraudulent messages, while 16% reported it to their bank. 11% consulted with a family member to see if it was fraudulent, while two per cent replied to the communication as they thought it was genuine.
Overall people have a good awareness of how to protect themselves, with 86% of people being aware that their bank will never text them a link, while 77% are aware that a fraudulent message can appear among genuine messages from their bank, using a method known as ‘smishing’.