New financial scams come with minor variations on familiar themes, warns AIB

Investment scammers are becoming more ingenious and resourceful, and it is getting harder and harder for people to spot them. That’s why AIB is urging its customers to exercise maximum caution when considering any investment opportunities presented to them online.

According to AIB head of financial crime Carol Lawton, a number of new scams are in circulation, but most of them bear similar hallmarks with minor variations. A typical case sees a customer with money to invest seeking information online and finding themselves falling victim to a fake website purporting to offer investment products from legitimate, well-known names in financial services.

Lawton points out that scammers often share sophisticated brochures and materials that appear legitimate. Once the customer 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 they thought they were dealing with, and their money has been stolen. This often happens under a degree of time pressure, with the scammers urging their victims to act quickly in order to get the best rate of return.

“Investment scams can be very distressing for people as they often take place after much consideration and involve significant amounts of money – in some cases, people’s life savings,” she adds.

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“These scams can be very sophisticated, often using authentic brochures and other high-end materials to trick people into investing. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are popular investments and unfortunately they can attract criminals – and bogus cryptocurrency investment scams are now unfortunately on the rise.”

Take advice from regulated financial advisers and remember, if it seems too good to be true, chances are it is

—  Carol Lawton, AIB

AIB always urges people to be extremely cautious and vigilant at all times, Lawton continues. “Check that any website you use is authentic; check that any company you engage with is genuine and validate that it’s actually them you’re engaging with; take advice from regulated financial advisers and remember, if it seems too good to be true, chances are it is.”

She describes a recent case involving an AIB customer who was lucky to escape with his savings intact. “The customer had funds to invest and searched online to see what options were available. He came across a website which offered cryptocurrency investments that seemed to suit his needs. But he did not check that the website was secure and genuine. Having shared his contact details, the website operators got in touch with him and during one of his conversations with them, he shared his screen which provided the fraudsters with access to his computer.”

The fraudsters then provided him with an account number which appeared to be in Romania, and he transferred €10,000 to the account.

Fortunately for the customer, AIB’s payment monitoring team became suspicious at that point because while the beneficiary account appeared to be in Romania, it was actually in the UK.

“Our payment monitoring team contacted the customer to ask if he had made the payment,” says Lawton. “He confirmed he had and that he was investing in cryptocurrency. He was confident the beneficiary was genuine until we advised him otherwise. The payment was cancelled and through the vigilance of our payment monitoring team, the customer avoided losing his savings.”

Would-be investors should call their bank to ask them to check the transaction and beneficiary account before making any payments

She advises people to ensure that any website they use is secure and genuine by checking for the padlock symbol to the left of the web address. If it’s not there, beware.

In addition, people considering an investment should always seek advice from a regulated financial adviser. “Check the adviser out,” she adds. “Look them up to see if their business exists by ensuring their office location and telephone number are genuine.”

She says would-be investors should call their bank to ask them to check the transaction and beneficiary account before making any payments. “This one call could save your money from being stolen by fraudsters,” she points out.

Finally, Lawton advises people to check the Central Bank of Ireland’s consumer hub and its list of unauthorised firms for guidance on how to protect themselves from financial scams. “Simply enter ‘search for unauthorised firms’ on centralbank.ie.”