Urgent text message..

Drumpot

My mother in law showed me an urgent text message she received at 11.30pm on Sunday night from bank of Ireland. It asked her to phone a number and quote a reference number.

She did and was told that somebody was using her card details to purchase stuff in England. Anyways they asked her date of birth and couple of other security questions and then said that it would take 2 weeks for her to get a replacement card. They also said they would refund the money taken out of her account. They were actually going to refund some other stuff but she clarified with them that there was some legitimate purchases..

I googled the number online and it seems legitimate yet something feels very odd about this kind of communication. Maybe I am just being overly concerned but would somebody please confirm that this is normal practise?

dodgygeezer

I'd be worried that the security info she gave them could be used to access her account. I'd get on to BOI customer care straight away.

Although I should add that when I used my BOI debit card for some large purchases after a period of inactivity BOI card services rang me to confirm I had used the card. I can't recall them asking me for DOB, passwords etc.

marco_polo

Pretty sure BOI fraud team do this from time to time, if the number looks like it was legit and they were able to list other transactions not mentioned by your mother first then I'd say it is more than likely nothing to be concerned about. But of course no harm following with customer care ASAP just to be absolutely sure.

Bank of Ireland: Elaine

Hi Drumpot, 

Thank you for getting in contact with us here on Boards.ie. 

Our dedicated Security Team provide a 24 hour monitoring security service to our customers. If they notice suspicious transactions on a Credit Card or Current account, they may text, call or email the customer in order to confirm transactions on the account. Security questions would only be required over the telephone for verification purposes. 

From what you have explained in your post, this does indeed sound like the procedure our security team follow. However, as we do not have account access here we are unable to confirm if this was a genuine call. As such, can you ask your mother in-law to call the security team on 01 4885466 where a representative can put her mind to rest. 

We hope this helps, and if you have any further queries, please don't hesitate to contact us again. 

Thanks, 
Elaine 

Drumpot

Thanks Elaine,

The number you posted is the number she contacted them about this originally so all appears to be in order . .