RTE star Sarah McInerney has shared how she fell victim to a scam as thieves attempted to use her bank account.
The Drivetime presenter was targeted with a dodgy text about her eFlow toll account on Wednesday night and she made the mistake of sharing her bank details after clicking a link.
Within minutes of the text, she realised her mistake but the scammers had already made attempts to and her bank was closed after hours.
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Sharing about how she fell for the scam on RTE's Drivetime today, Sarah said: "It's not like we're not warned about this, we get the emails from our banks warning us not to click on links - and yet we do! Including myself.
"Last night I clicked on a link and it made me realise I think there's a weakness in the system. I clicked on a link and I entered way too many details because I was eating my dinner and watching a programme and also scrolling on my phone at the same time - the opposite of mindfulness.
"I clicked on this link for eFlow, saying I hadn't filled out the terms and conditions to allow my account to continue, and I sort of absent-mindedly was putting in information and then realised I had put in the registration for my bank and the personal access code.
"And when I clicked send on the personal access code I realised, 'what am I doing?' and I tried to close the window but it was too late."
Sarah then called her bank but it was closed after 5pm and she couldn't find any information online about what to do in this situation.
She eventually got through to someone in credit card fraud and they advised her to input her access codes incorrectly six different times in order to lock her online banking account.
However, in the 15 minutes before she closed her online bank account down the scammer had added a mobile number and attempted to make a few transactions.
Sarah spoke to Niamh Davenport, Head of Financial Crime with the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland, about tips on how to protect yourself from the same scam.
Ms Davenport said: "The fraudsters are really quick and they are waiting for somebody to respond with their information and they are going to act on it straight away.
"With any type of scam, one of the key things I'd always say is time is of the essence and to report it to your bank as quickly as possible.
"The banks do have that [credit card fraud] number 24/7 and you can use that number if you feel you've handed over your bank account details.
"The other way is you can freeze your card on your mobile banking app."
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