IT experts at ESET Ireland say they have seen a massive run of targeted scam emails hitting Irish inboxes with various attempts to scam Permanent TSB customers.
According to ESET, the emails come with subject lines like:“Your access to Open24 online banking has been locked”; “Your account has been temporarily suspended”; “We found suspicious activities on your account – Please read details!”; “Permanent TSB – Customer Notice”; and “Open24 Internet Banking Account Notification.”
The emails arrive from spoof email addresses including: info@permanenttsb.ie, security@permanenttsb.ie and customersecurity@permanenttsb.ie.
The emails contain attachments or links where the potential victims are asked to enter their logins and other confidential banking info, in order to ‘unlock’ their accounts.
The official Permanent TSB website warns customers to note that the bank would never ask for confidential login information by email or telephone.
“If you’ve also received emails like these and thought ‘so what? It’s the same old rubbish anyway!’ think again,” warns ESET’s Urban Schrott.
“Right now malware and phishing forms apparently from reputable companies seem to be particularly successful at getting through mail services with exceptionally good filtering.
“Now, as ever, you need to be aware that you can’t rely on mail provider filtering and security software to protect you from all attacks. But scepticism and common sense will go a long way towards plugging the gaps in your defences,” Schrott adds.
