Irish bank Permanent TSB has sent out a warning to its customers after an increase of "smishing" and "vishing" scams.
The sophisticated scams take advantage of phone calls and text messages from service providers and target vulnerable customers for personal information. Vishing involves calls claiming to be from utility providers such as broadband services that are seeking remote access to devices.
It results in a bill payment being set up in the customer's account that includes the authentication of the payment either through a one-time passcode or approving a new device. The bank warns: "Any unsolicited contact by telephone/text or email requesting banking security information should be treated as highly suspicious. Always independently check that the person is who they say they are. Remember that criminals can spoof phone numbers and mimic e-mail addresses."
