A new round of phishing emails targeting AIB have appeared over the past number of days, siliconrepublic.com has learned.
The emails purport to inform customers of a security upgrade to the bank’s website and ask the recipient to verify their account information by going to a link contained within the message.
The link, as it appears in the message, seems to point to a legitimate AIB site and even contains the “https” as part of the URL, which usually denotes a secure page. However, holding a cursor over the link reveals that it actually points to a site in Germany.
AIB has confirmed that the email is a fraud. According to press officer Ronan Sheridan, an email in circulation on Wednesday 7 June appears to be the same as one received by some customers late last week. “A small number of customers received fraudulent emails and reported them,” he said. “The fraudulent site was shut down within hours of the first customer report.” It is not yet clear whether the latest email points to the same site as that in the original phishing attempt last week.
Sheridan emphasised that AIB never requests confidential password information from customers. “We would never ask for details like that but people have to be vigilant all the same,” he said. Anyone who receives the email is asked to report it by sending a copy to alert@aib.ie or by calling 1890 242424.
By Gordon Smith
