PTSB urges customers to exercise caution as a number of investment scams claiming to be from PTSB are in circulation. Criminals are currently attempting to use fake PTSB email addresses, sometimes with a real PTSB staff name e.g. johndoe@ptsb-onboarding.com rather than, johndoe@ptsb.ie to contact customers.
A person is contacted by the scammer after filling out a contact form on a fake website claiming to offer investment products from legitimate, well-known names in financial services. The scammers often share sophisticated brochures and materials that appear legitimate.
After the person fills out all the relevant ‘documents’, they are asked to transfer their money to an account which they later realise does not belong to the financial services firm and their money has been stolen.
This often happens under a degree of time pressure, for example “to get the best rate of return”. Some of these scams are also followed up by an additional attempt to defraud, where a scammer will claim to be from a loss recovery agency and will seek to extract a fee from the victim for a recovery process.
PTSB urges people to:
- Ensure you verify the contact details by checking the official company’s website.
- Do not call the number provided on the email. Search and confirm the phone number using the bank’s website.
- You can also cross reference email addresses to ensure they are aligned with the format of the firms existing email addresses as shown on their website.
- Ensure any website you use is secure and genuine by checking for the padlock symbol to the left of the web address. If it’s not there, beware.
- Check the advisor out, look them up to see if their business exists by ensuring their office location and telephone number are genuine.
- Call your bank before you make the payment and ask them to check the transaction and beneficiary account. This one call could save your money from being stolen by fraudsters.
- Check the Central Bank of Ireland’s consumer hub and its list of unauthorised firms for guidance on how to protect yourself from financial scams.
- Always seek investment advice from a regulated financial advisor even when recommendations are made by people you trust, such as family or friends.
