Bank of Ireland is warning about a new fraud targeting customers here.
The fraudsters are mainly targeting business banking customers, duping them into allowing remote access to their computers and bank accounts.
The so-called 'Live Chat' scam has already been reported by other banks in Europe, the UK, US, Australia, and New Zealand.
The fraud starts when a customer gets a phone call from someone claiming to be from Bank of Ireland, and the caller asks them to log into their online banking as normal.
The fraudster then asks the customer to go to another new website address, saying that this is "for a live chat service" or "to verify the customer's PC".
However, this actually allows the fraudster remote access to the customer's PC and they can now see the customer's screen and access all of their files and programmes.
The caller will set up payments on the customer's online banking and ask the customer to read out the one-time codes from their BOI app to approve the payments.
What can you do?
Anyone who gets a call from someone who asks you to go to a website or to click on a link that they will send you is advised to just hang up.
Bank of Ireland has said if someone asks you for a one-time code from your online banking app, they are a fraudster.
"Never, ever share those codes with anyone, even if they say they are from Bank of Ireland," the bank has said.
Nicola Sadlier, Head of Fraud at Bank of Ireland, said people are being directed to fake websites.
"This new scam is of particular concern as fraudsters are convincing people to allow access to their PCs via a fake ‘live chat’, where they can access business customers’ online banking, and other personal files and information," she said.
"We are urging customers to take extra care when logging into their online banking, to ensure it is a legitimate site.
"People are currently being directed to fake sites, receiving follow-up phone calls from fraudsters and then being convinced to allow remote access.
"This scam is multi-layered and the international nature of the scam shows that it has been highly effective for the fraudsters elsewhere," she added.
