Online shoppers should be especially cautious of messages relating to orders and deliveries during the Christmas season.

Investment fraud attempts have surged 76% this year, according to Bank of Ireland (BOI) data from the first half of 2024.

Head of fraud at BOI Nicola Sadlier told The Anton Savage Show that tell-tale signs of a scam are unnecessary requests for personal details.

“Just look really conscious of it – have you actually ordered something?” she said.

“Do you need to click through and share more personal information and share your banking information?

“So, that's where we remind customers to stop, think and check."

Incoming call from unknown number. Scam online on phone

Ms Sadlier said that if customers were ever unsure about the nature of a transaction, they should contact their bank.

“We are alerting on these types of transactions every single day," she said.

“We're reaching out to customers to make sure and validate whether or not it is genuinely them or it's a fraudster.

“What we always say as well is that we invest heavily in both our tech and also our team – our team is actually available 24/7.”

Recovery

Ms Sadlier said money can often be recovered depending on the type of transaction.

“There are charge-back schemes there for both [credit and debit], probably higher protections with credit,” she said.

The sooner you alert your bank of fraud, the better, according to Ms Sadlier.

“It's really important that we're on it straight away,” she said.

“Obviously the recovery outcome is far better if we know about it sooner.”

Vulnerable times

Ms Sadlier said fraudsters will often target people at vulnerable times.

“Particularly E-flow, their reports were between six and seven, mobile numbers [were] getting flooded at that time,” she said.

“A lot of a lot of people are travelling, getting home from work, and you're hassled and you're trying to get the dinner and all the rest, and you just think, ‘oh, I'll just sort that’.

“Netflix as well, reports of them on Wednesday evenings and Friday evenings, typically when couples are sitting down and the last thing you want to know is your Netflix account is disabled.”

Ms Sadlier warned customers to always take their time before responding to these types of messages.