Bank of Ireland to invest €50 million in fraud prevention and protection. In the past 12 months, 90% of the population have experienced fraudulent communications via text, email or on the phone.

Investment includes technology, consumer awareness and customer support. Bank launches nationwide series of fraud awareness events for consumers.

Bank of Ireland has announced an investment of €50 million on customer fraud prevention and protection. The investment includes €15million on new fraud prevention technology, along with a range of high-profile consumer awareness campaigns and support for customers who are targeted by fraudsters.

Across Bank of Ireland 225 colleagues are now solely dedicated to fraud prevention and protection, the provision of 24/7 phone support to customers every day of the year, and the detection of financial crime. Three in four consumers want to be able to speak directly with someone at their bank or financial service provider if they fall victim to fraud.

In the past 12 months, the vast majority of the population (90%, Red C, Feb ‘24) have experienced fraudulent communications via text, email or on the phone*. According to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, reports received by Gardaí from victims of fraudulent texts increased by over 30% in 2023. 

„Bank of Ireland’s fraud teams intercept or prevent the majority of fraud attempts, and this is a 24/7 job. In the remaining cases, where a fraud has been successful, all efforts are made by the fraud team to recover funds for customers.” the bank explains.

Myles O’Grady – Group CEO of Bank of Ireland commented: “The vast majority of us have received texts, emails, or calls from fraudsters. At first glance, these look like they come from trusted organisations like government departments, banks, the post office, or delivery companies. Some of them even pose as coming from family or colleagues, but whatever form they choose they all have one common aim – to steal your money.

“Banks are on the front line in defending our customers, and wider society, from this threat. However more action is needed from all of us including telecoms companies, social media and tech firms, banks and fintechs, and State agencies.

“I encourage everyone – regardless of whether they are a Bank of Ireland customer or not – to come to one of our fraud awareness events taking place over the coming months.”

“The investment we are announcing today helps equip our people with the latest resources to support and protect customers. It also ensures that if our customers are targeted by a fraudster they can talk to a real human – not a bot – 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.”

Nicola Sadlier – Head of Fraud, Bank of Ireland said: “Our message is clear – Stop, Think, Check. If something sounds too good to be true, it is. Treat every unsolicited call, text or email as a potential fraud attempt. Be suspicious. Keep your guard up.

“Our teams are constantly monitoring for emerging threats. We see more and more fraud attacks starting from social media and tech platforms. Fake ads should be caught before they are published online, but many are not. If we see a fake ad, we report it to the channel operator, but even then some ads are removed very slowly and sometimes not at all.”

Bank of Ireland developments to combat fraud

The bank has taken couple of practical steps to protecting customers and that’s include:

. Offering the Bank of Ireland TextChecker Service – this allows customers to check directly with Bank of Ireland if a text is genuine, which the Bank will confirm within 60 seconds

. New payee limits on daily transfers – when customers add a new payee there is a period of up to 48 hours where the limit that can be transferred is €1,000. This lower temporary limit is in place to protect customers from fraud when new payees are being set up.

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*Research into awareness and incidence of financial fraud among a nationally representative sample of the population was conducted by Red C in its RED Line Online Omnibus from 5^th to 8^th February 2024.