Fraud Prevention

What to do if you receive suspicious looking email?

• Do not click any links
• Do not open any attachments
• Do not enter any of your personal details on the fraudulent email or on the fraudulent web site or pop-up.
• Forward the email to alert@mail.ebs.ie and then delete the email.
• Contact our Internet Support team on 0818 654 322 (option 3). Lines are open 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday.

FraudSMART - Your money Your control

Fraud can happen to anyone, at any time, and it can have serious consequences.

This FraudSMART is an initiative led by the Banking Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI) and supported by the banking sector. As part of the initiative, FraudSMART publish annual reports on emerging trends in fraudulent activity. Their most recent report (published 30/05/2024) contained the below key findings:

Fraudsters stole €98.6 million through frauds and scams in 2023, an increase of 16.4% on 2022.

• Card fraud accounted for 95% of fraudulent transactions and 36% (€35.2 million) of gross fraud losses in 2023.
• Unauthorised electronic transfers accounted for only 3% of the volume but 34% (€33.8 million) of losses.
  • This type of fraud occurs when someone makes a payment through mobile or online banking, without the account holder’s authorisation or permission, often called ‘account takeover’. It usually results from the loss or theft of sensitive payment data such as a victim’s account number or PIN.
• Consumers and businesses were scammed out of €18.1 million through authorised push payment (APP fraud)
  • This occurs when a fraudster tricks a consumer into sending money directly to an account controlled by the criminal.
  • Although it only made up 1% of fraudulent transactions, it accounted for 18% of losses to fraud in 2023.

The purpose of FraudSMART.ie is to educate, inform and keep current fraud information easily accessible, so that both businesses and consumers can prevent and protect against falling victim to scams.

For more information, visit FraudSMART.ie.

Keeping your Phone & Tablet Secure

We will do our best to keep you secure, but there are some recommendations that we have when you are using Online Banking on your mobile. 

• We recommend that you should not use online banking on any phone or tablet that has been jailbroken* (Apple products) or ‘rooted*’ (Android products). We cannot guarantee that your security will be intact when using devices that have been modified like this.

* A jailbroken or rooted device is one which has had its operating system (e.g. iOS or Android) modified with specialised software, usually to allow the installation of applications from unofficial app stores. This can weaken built-in security features and leave your device open to malware.

Anti-Virus Software

Anti-virus software protects your computer. It works by matching suspicious files on your computer against a database of known malicious code. In this regard, it is vital that you keep your anti-virus software up-to-date. Most anti-virus products will clear this malicious software from your computer.

If your computer is infected with a virus, anti-virus software should alert you to the infection. It's important to regularly update your anti-virus software and be aware of all new fraud developments and threats.

Updating Your Operating System

It is important that you keep your software up-to-date. New ways to attack computers are being developed daily by criminals. Software providers are constantly monitoring these new potential threats to their products. As such, they release regular updates to their products to counter any new security threat to their software. By keeping software up-to-date, you lower the potential risk faced from criminal attacks.

Use a Firewall

You can get further protection against harmful codes by using firewall software that prevents unauthorised access when you're on the Internet. A firewall is a program or hardware device that filters the information coming through the Internet connection into your PC.

Some operating systems come with a firewall built in. Otherwise, a software firewall can be installed on the computer in your home that has an Internet connection.

Counteract Threats

To counteract the threats posed by external fraudsters, EBS advises that you also keep in mind the points below which will help increase the security of your PC and personal information.