The Government has issued an urgent reminder to people never to click on suspicious links over text amid further reports of a scam affecting those on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).
The warning comes as hundreds of thousands continue to claim the PUP as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Liz Canavan, the assistant secretary in the Department of the Taoiseach, today urged people to remain vigilant of the fraud.
She told a press briefing that the Government has received some reports that members of the public "have received text messages from an unknown number, purporting to be from Revenue."
The texts urge recipients to click a link in order to claim €350, she said, adding that the Government will never ask people for their account details.
"People are advised not to click on, or to reply to, any link which appears to be suspicious," top civil servant Canavan added.
"We want to remind you that bank account, or other financial institution account details, are never requested from customers via text messages or on social media."
Some 475,000 people this week received the PUP, at a cost of €142.86 million to the State.
The figure marks a 3% increase on last week's, and does not include the 189,000 people on the Live Register at the end of December.
It's also 200,000 higher than the number claiming the PUP on December 21 – the lowest-ever figure, according to Canavan.
Despite the spike, around 10,000 people closed their PUP account in the last week, she added – with almost 7,000 doing so because they said they were returning to work.
Today's social welfare update comes after the Government yesterday extended Ireland's Level Five lockdown by another six weeks.
The Taoiseach said major measures were still necessary – despite falling figures – because of the precarious situation the country finds itself in.
