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THE AVERAGE TEXT scam cost victims €1,700 in the second half of this year, new figures have revealed.
The stats, released by the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) and its FraudSMART campaign, show that victims of text message scams or ‘smishing’ were tricked out of an average of €1,700, while over the same period, businesses were conned out of an average of €14,000 due to invoice fraud.
Experts now believe that Irish customers are in a precarious position as tens of thousands of people change their bank accounts due to Ulster Bank and KBC removing themselves from the Irish market later this year.
FraudSMART said consumers and businesses should “be on high alert for impersonation type scams”.
Speaking on the latest fraud trends, Niamh Davenport, FraudSMART spokesperson said: “FraudSMART members have seen text message scams almost double in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year with consumers conned out of an average of €1,700 per scam.
Businesses meanwhile are suffering average losses of €14,000 due to invoice fraud, however this can increase to €50k in some cases.
“Fraudsters are experts at taking advantage of changing situations to commit fraud and with two retail banks leaving the Irish market and hundreds of thousands of personal and businesses customers moving bank accounts FraudSMART members are anticipating we may see a rise in impersonation fraud attempts which will be based around the process of verifying and updating bank account details.”
For personal customers, the BPFI said it expects fraudsters will use this account transition period to obtain personal information “through the guise of a problem with a customer’s new account set-up or switch”.
“We are warning consumers to be on the lookout for text messages that flag fraud on your bank account or impending cancellation of your salary, standing orders, or direct debits to utilities and which then go on to ask for personal information or account details,” Davenport added.
Here are a few tips from the experts on how to avoid being scammed this year:
When I used to do ‘Words with Friends’ I was regularly targeted by ‘widowed’ men (who’d all lost their spouse tragically) and also had some high flying job in the army or a multi national oil company. They all tended to look like catalogue models. For added pathos there was sometimes a disabled or dying child in case the heart strings needed that extra tug.
The dead give away was the gushing compliments based on my poor, pixelated profile pic and their inability to construct any word longer than 4 letters.( If you’re using a word game for your scamming you should at least attempt to appear literate)
It was fun stringing them along for a few games then revealing that I worked for the police (I don’t). Puffff! They vanished into thin air!
@Liz O’Neill: lol
Why on earth would you give money to someone never met in person??
@Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown: Have you ever heard of the Catholic Church?
@Pablo Rojas Coppari: I am sorry, but this is not an excuse for being gullible.
@Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown: marriage…
@Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown: it doesn’t happen in one conversation. By the time they’re giving money, thy have developed a bond with the person and want to help them. Loneliness, naivety and kindness aren’t things to scorn. It’s just very sad that they get exploited. And no, I’m not speaking from personal experience as I’m a very cynical and suspicious person. But I do know ppl it has happened to and in all cases it happened because they were lonely, shy and kind and simply couldn’t imagine what kind of person would tell these kinds of lies and steal.
Love is not free, in face-to-face encounters or online.
Facebook is riddled with the chancers, replying to women’s posts and pretending they’re someone they’re not. I saw a real howler a couple of weeks ago, and even kept a screenshot of the profile. It was supposed to be someone called Daven Burr, who was listed as an American army commander in Syria. It said that he lives in Ohio and that he’s from Texas. The photo of the “single” bloke shows an Australian serviceman standing in front of an Australian flag. He did have Burr on his uniform though, so that bit was authentic. It’s as plain as day that these people are scammers, but it must pay off occasionally when some gullible eejit falls for the bs.
@E.J. Murray: — I can’t believe the page still exists :p https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100029135868007
@E.J. Murray: He’s a man of many talents. Fluent in Thai apparently!
@Liz O’Neill: — Yes, he’s a real catch :P
The real guy is, Lieutenant General Rick Burr.
According to Google, and with a similar photo :-
Lieutenant General Burr assumed command of the Australian Army on 2 July 2018. He joined the Army in 1982, graduating from the Royal Military College at Duntroon in 1985 to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps.
What kind of amoeba would buy into that scam????
@Nora McElhinney: victim blaming is not appropriate
@Nora McElhinney: obviously it’s happening so why make a statement like that? These people target emotionally vulnerable people and are very sophisticated at pulling the right strings. They target thousands of people no doubt and why only need to be lucky a few times for it to be profitable.
@Nora McElhinney: Its called being niave. Lots of people believe in god too, but nobody calls them stupid, crazy as that is.
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