There has been a spike in the number of bogus text messages claiming to be from delivery companies in recent days as criminals exploit the busiest time of the year for parcels and packages.
More than two million parcels will be handled by An Post this week while private operators are also dealing with significantly higher delivery volumes.
With hundreds of thousands of people waiting on post, fraudsters have flooded the country with messages seeking financial and other personal details.
The messages claim to be from delivery companies and alert recipients to customs charges attached to deliveries or parcels that have not been delivered successfully.
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The text messages have links to sites that look legitimate but when financial details are entered, criminals can quickly gain access to a person’s accounts.
While research published earlier this year suggested that more than 80 per cent of Irish consumers are targeted by scam texts at least once a month, with a third saying they were targeted weekly, the volume has climbed even more in recent weeks.
Banks have reported “a recent increase in text message scams”, with the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland’s (BPFI) head of financial crime Niamh Davenport saying criminals have been “impersonating a range of organisations including parcel delivery companies, customs text messages and utility companies”.
She warned anyone who receives a text asking for personal or financial information, to “not to click on the link, especially if there is a sense of urgency to it.
“Pause for thought and if in any doubt contact the company independently by checking their contact details on their official website or other official source,” Ms Davenport said.
She pointed out that “frauds and scams are becoming increasingly more complex and confusing and we can all be vulnerable, especially during the festive season”.
Ms Davenport added that fraudsters were “also taking advantage of how busy and distracted we are at this time of year between meeting family and friends, last minute shopping and busy supermarkets”.
The communications watchdog ComReg echoed the BPFI’s warning.
“Given the time of year it is likely that there will to be an increase in scam text messages being sent to mobile phone users over the Christmas holiday period,” a spokesman said.
He said people would have to be “vigilant and to be wary of these kinds of messages, especially from a number you are not familiar with, even if it seems like an Irish number”.
ComReg is currently engaged in a period of consultation ahead of rolling out a new system which will force mobile phone operators to put in place specific network interventions to combat scam calls and texts.
“We hope to finalise this consultation process in the springtime,” the spokesman said with more protections and interventions likely to be introduced shortly after the process concludes.
Ahead of that, ComReg noted that some operators have begun preventing voice calls from abroad using Irish fixed numbers from being carried into the State.
ComReg is also compiling a list of numbers which are never used for outgoing calls and requesting telecoms operators to block them.
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