Permanent TSB customers are currently being targeted by a phishing scam that attempts to steal log-in information and passwords to the banking website.

If you happen to receive an email similar to the one below, do not respond or click on any links in the email.

Dear Esteem Customer

Due to multiple attempt error while trying to login in to your online Permanent TSB Online Account. We believed that someone other than you is trying to access your Account For security reasons, we have temporarily Flagged your account and your access to online banking will be restricted until this issue is solved.

Update your Permanent TSB Account now to enjoy the benefits of online banking and safer online banking experience.

Click here to proceed

Thanks for taking the time to learn about our upcoming plan for Enhance Online Security – it’s one more way that Permanent TSB online banking can makes your online banking experience better..

Irish Life & Permanent plc is a limited liability company registered in Dublin under No. 222332. The company’s registered office is: Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1.

Closer investigation of the email shows that the link actually points to a Brazillian website.

<a href="http://www.cspconsultoria.eng.br/logs/easyweb.php">

The email which we investigated comes from an insecure mail server run by an Australian company.

Received: from User (mail.blighcapital.com.au [59.167.233.41])

Mobile phone users have been receiving text messages that claim to be from AIB Bank

The text appears to come from sender: AIB

The message is as follows:

“Your AIB code card has been locked for security reasons due to recent fraud attempts. please visit http://www.aib-security.org to update your account”

If you receive a message like this do not visit the website as it is fraudulent and not operated by AIB Bank.

Although not confirmed, IT Security Consultant Alan O’Regan from Secured.ie reports that the fraudsters are using popular national websites like donedeal.ie to harvest Irish mobile numbers.

It has been reported that cyber criminals are creating as many as 57000 websites every week in a bid to obtain data from unsuspecting people. Many of these websites look and appear to be exactly like those websites you regularly use such as Visa, Amazon, Ebay, Paypal etc.

Phishing

The bogus websites are often made to look exactly like those of legitimate bank, auction, or shopping websites. The threat arises when users are unable to determine the authenticity of the websites when they click into them through search engines or email messages. While Search Engines and various security software companies do try to thwart the efforts of the hackers it can’t eliminate all the risks. This is why users need to be extremely vigilant when logging onto these websites.

According to Panda Labs 2/3 of these bogus websites related to banking websites.  ”Given the proliferation of this technique, we advise consumers to visit banking sites or online stores by typing in the address in the browser directly rather than using search engines or links in an email,” Corrons said.

While typing in the address of the website will mitigate some attacks it does not ensure complete safety said Alan O’Regan from Secured.IE. Some of these attacks hijack DNS requests so even though you have typed the correct website into the address bar you may still end up being diverted off to a bogus website.