Customers who fell victim to fraudsters sending around scam texts will get their money back from Bank of Ireland.
In June gardai raised awareness of the scam which saw fraudulent texts dropped into genuine text threads from the bank informing them that their bank card has been skimmed and has been deactivated.
Customers are asked to order a new card and enter their personal details, giving the scammers access to their account.
Bank of Ireland launched a fraud awareness campaign today along with the announcement about the reimbursements.
Gavin Kelly, CEO Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland said: "Smishing has been around for a long time, but there has been a spike in attacks since Covid-19, with fraudsters clearly recognising an opportunity to target consumers as we spent more time using phones and computers.
"Bank of Ireland has been working closely with customers for many years on this type of fraud so we understand the distress caused to customers, especially where it hasn't been possible to trace the money, which thankfully is the minority of cases.
"We have carried out a review into a recent smishing attack which has managed to defraud a number of customers.
“These cases have involved criminals inserting a fraudulent text into a thread containing genuine text messages from the Bank.
“This tricked customers into divulging their confidential banking details.
"However, we also acknowledge that fraudsters have been particularly active during this period and as consumers, we have had many other pressing concerns to deal with through Covid-19.
“Therefore we will be reimbursing the customers for these losses and the Bank will absorb the financial impact.
"Bank of Ireland will never text, send emails or call a customer looking for their confidential banking details.
"If anyone has any suspicions on fraud, we have a 24/7 freephone line to support customers."
