Internet ticket buyers targeted in financial scam

PEOPLE who buy tickets on the internet are at risk of being conned by the latest financial scam.

And newcomers to website banking are being warned to take extreme care to avoid being duped.

Web security experts urge people new to computers to have the latest anti-virus software installed on their PC to counter the threat.

So far, a handful of people have come across the internet-based virus which steals credit and bank card details and sends them to fraudsters.

Buying tickets on the internet poses a potential threat. “It seems to be triggered when a person is using their personal computer and they’re using a website like that,” said Úna Dillon, manager of the Irish Payments Service Organisation yesterday.

AIB bank and IPSO are urging customers not to be conned into giving away important banking details.

Believed to be backed by Eastern European gangs connected to the Russian Mafia, the scam features mysterious pop-up screens that request credit card numbers, expiry dates and PIN numbers.

“Neither your bank nor retailer would ask you your ATM PIN number,” said Ms Dillon.

“What we’ve seen so far - the fraud is still under investigation - is that it seems to have been caused by a virus which installs a rogue virus on personal computers. It seems to be happening for bank websites as well as retail websites, any website where a person would be using a debit or a credit card to make a transaction or to move money from accounts.”

Ms Dillon said the fraud was similar to the “phishing” scam that hit the country in March and April, when criminal gangs sent millions of emails to people. “It’s called phishing because they would send millions of emails in the hope of getting a few bites back.” Statistics show the criminals got about 5% return on those emails.

Ms Dillon said people received emails saying ‘you’re a wonderful customer. We’d like to offer you x, y and z’ - and the link would appear to be the correct link to the bank or retailer. The person was then advised to key in their personal details, which allowed the criminals to access their account.

The latest scam shows a basic, almost blank box, which says “authorization sales” at the top. The fraudsters use the American spelling of authorisation.

People who come across the scam should contact their bank or retailer.