Taoiseach Enda Kenny has called on financial regulators and firms to put safeguards in place to protect people’s bank accounts.

Suspected hackers who stole credit card details of hundreds of thousands of people are likely based overseas, according to the garda commissioner.

Electricity customers have become the latest to fall prey to the data protection debacle at Loyaltybuild as gardaí yesterday announced a fraud squad probe into breaches at the company.

An initial examination by the Irish Payment Services Organisation is showing no fraudulent activity on the credit cards of Supervalu and AXA customers.

Criminals are targeting elderly and vulnerable bank customers by distracting them at ATMs and stealing their cards.

ATM users are being warned about a worrying new scam.

Irish consumers are making a big switch from cheques and paper-based payment methods to cards and online banking.

An external review into the risk management of the Irish electronic payments system following the failure of Ulster Bank last year has found that reviews weren’t carried out often enough.

A total of €20.4m was lost to fraud on Irish issued credit, debit and ATM cards in 2012, down from the €25.7m lost in 2011.

Cork city and county councils should explore opportunities for joint staffing through sharing services, according to a major government-ordered review on staffing levels.

Shoppers and commuters have been warned to take extra care when using credit and debit cards during the pre-Christmas period after criminals began targeting ticket vending machines at railway stations.

Commuters and Christmas shoppers are being targeted by a criminal gang skimming bank cards at ticket vending machines.

A warning has been issued after a number of incidents of "skimming" at ticket vending machines.

Customers at Ulster Bank have received at least a €25 compensation payment as a result of the bank’s technical failure.

Shopkeepers are being alerted to a scam that's seen around 50 shops lose up to €200,000 in the last week.

The major IT failure which has caused havoc to Ulster Bank and the wider RBS Group has been fixed in Britain — but has yet to be solved in Ireland.

The fiasco at Ulster Bank will continue until at least the end of this week, with the beleaguered institution admitting it is having difficulties clearing the “unprecedented” backlog.

Ulster Bank customers were thrown into further confusion after many ATM cards and machines across the country stopped working after 10pm last night.

The Central Bank has said that it is "closely monitoring" the situation at Ulster Bank, as tens of thousands of the bank's customers struggle to access their cash.

Ulster Bank says over 100,000 people are affected by a systems failure that's caused delayed automatic salary and social welfare payments to some of its accounts.

Irish people are still much fonder of cash than their European counterparts.

The scale of bank card fraud is continuing to rise, with €25.7m being scammed by criminals off unsuspecting card holders last year.

Irish consumers are lagging dramatically behind their European counterparts when it comes to using online banking, according to a study by comScore.

IRELAND still trails its European counterparts in terms of paying for goods electronically, but a survey shows we are slowly cottoning onto the benefits of switching from cash.

The amount of cash withdrawn from ATM machines last year fell by €3bn, it has been revealed.

A CRACKDOWN on an internet banking fraud gang saw gardaí seize computers and documents at a Meath home.

THE phasing out of cheques is accelerating, with new figures showing the volume used here last year declined by 13% — more than double the reduction in 2008.

THE Government’s stamp duty on credit cards has been labelled “uncompetitive” by a leading industry group, which claims it could stop new entrants coming into the market.

THE use of online banking has surged 16% with 2.6 million customers now registered in Ireland.

A FLAW has been discovered with chip and PIN technology which could result in Irish credit card holders being liable for any money stolen from them.

THE PUBLIC is being urged to fight finance fraud that is “ruining people’s self respect and lives”.

THEORY is never as much fun as practice which is why Colm McCarthy has a head start on most academics when he takes the podium in lecture halls.

IRELAND’S overdependence on cash is harming the economy and the country’s competitiveness.

THOUSANDS of Christmas shoppers were left without the use of ATM machines and credit cards yesterday after the collapse of many of AIB’s systems.

ONE in every 50 people in Ireland has already been the victim of identity fraud.

ACCORDING to Una Dillon of the Irish Payment Services Organisation, the criminals took terminals that were already in the shop and replaced them with similar ones.

An investigation is underway into the theft of payment-card details from around 20,000 bank customers in Ireland.

FRAUDSTERS have been developing technology to tamper with chip and PIN terminals in shops and steal card information.

CREDIT cardholders whose details were used illegally when fraudsters gained access to the database of an Irish online retailer will not suffer any financial loss, it was confirmed yesterday.

Barclaycard Business has today announced its entry into the Irish card processing market.

IRISH consumers withdraw more money from cash-machines than anyone else in Europe — taking out almost €6,000 a year each, figures have revealed.

CROOKS are resorting to mobile phone technology to trick consumers into divulging their bank details to a bogus automated hotline.

THE annual €40 stamp duty on credit cards is to fall to €30 and the levy on cash machine cards is to halve to €5.

EDUCATED fraudsters have enough know-how to use complex mathematical calculations to imprint genuine but unissued bank numbers onto fake credit cards.