An Irish person has lost a substantial amount of their savings after being duped by a clever text scam.
The scam has been circulating in Cork and Gardai are warning that the text message that claims to be from Bank of Ireland can be very costly, Cork Beo reports.
A person in Fermoy clicked the link on a text message and criminals were able to defraud them of a considerable amount of money.
The text which will say it's from "BOI Alert" reads: "Your registered phone number has been unchanged for 12 months and you are not able to receive security codes anymore. Go to www.365online-locked.com."
The fake text does look convincing and while the link is clearly nothing to do with the bank, those not used to the internet such as the elderly could easily be caught out.
A garda spokesperson said: "A crime victim received this text today claiming to be from the Bank of Ireland. He clicked on the link and was duped into revealing sensitive details which meant criminals could access his account and steal a substantial amount of his savings.
"Please remember, your financial institute will not contact you in this manner.
"Report any suspicious contact with your financial institute and to the Gardaí.
"In some previous posts about similar scams, people have actually blamed the victims. No victim is ever at fault and any of us could be defrauded in this way."
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