Laois Offaly Gardaí warning as 'smishing' fraud on increase

The Laois Offaly Kildare Garda division has issued a warning over the increase of "smishing" phone fraud incidents.

It is part of a nationwide warning from An Garda Síochána who report a huge increase in this type of money fraud in recent weeks.

They have confirmed a 61% increase in smishing/vishing offences in the first 10 days of 2022, in comparison with the same period in 2021.

Smishing is the sending of fraudulent messages by SMS to trick the recipient into giving personal bank details.

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Below are two examples of text messages, purported to be from Permanent TSB, received by a member of the public who doesn’t hold a Permanent TSB account.

The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau has issued the following advice:

"Be wary of such texts (even if the message thread includes previous genuine texts from your bank).  NEVER EVER click on links – by doing so you are accessing cloned websites.

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"NEVER EVER give away personal data like PINs, one time codes or passwords."

Victims of the fraud are urged to change their password and PIN code immediately.

"Report the matter to your bank asking them to recall any transactions which may have taken place, and report the matter to An Garda Síochána. • Permanent TSB will never send a text containing a link," An Garda Síochána said.