Safe Account Scam – Fake Bank "Fraud Team" Texts and Calls

A text says a payment on your card was declined, or that a new payment or a new device has appeared on your account. If it was not you, it says, ring this number. You ring it. The person who answers says they are from your bank's fraud team, that your account has been compromised, and that your money has to be moved now to keep it safe. They give you the account to move it to. That "safe account" belongs to them. Bank of Ireland reported a significant increase in this scam through May 2026, and set out the sequence in a press release on 4 June 2026. The text "typically references a suspicious or declined transaction". The customer "is often asked to call a phone number included in the message". The fraudster who answers, "posing as a member of the bank's fraud team", gets a payment or banking details, or tells the customer their money "must be moved immediately to a 'safe account'". In Bank of Ireland's words: "In reality, the 'safe account' is controlled by the fraudster and the money is lost." On 7 August 2026 RTÉ reported that AIB had seen payment fraud cases rise by 59% in July, with a text claiming to be from a bank or trusted organisation followed up by a phone call. The banks and FraudSMART give the same answer. AIB: "We'll never ask you to move money or share security codes, cash or cards." Bank of Ireland: "we will never ask you to transfer money out of your account to protect yourself from fraud." FraudSMART, the fraud-awareness initiative run by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland: "Your bank will never ask you to transfer money from your account to a 'safe account' or any other kind of account." This is not the same as the other bank pages under this heading. The AIB Email Scam ends with your login details typed into a fake website. The Bank Courier Card Collection Scam ends with your card handed over at the door. This one ends with you making the transfer yourself, from your own app, believing you are protecting your money.

• •Customers of any Irish bank. The text and the caller use the name of whichever bank you actually have
• •Anyone who has just had a text about a payment they did not make, a login from a new device or a new direct debit
• •People with a second account, such as Revolut. Bank of Ireland has described callers who have customers move everything into their own second account first, and from there to the "safe" one
• •Older customers. FraudSMART says callers in the phone version of this scam "often target older individuals"
• •Anyone who banks on a phone app and can move money in seconds while still on the call

• •The text can sit among your bank's genuine messages. Bank of Ireland warned in 2025 that these texts "can drop into the thread of a genuine BOI text", and in 2026 that they "can even appear under trusted contact names stored in a customer's phone"
• •You make the call, so it feels like you are the one checking. But the number came from the text. FraudSMART's answer: "banks will never include phone numbers for customers to ring within a text message."
• •The caller sounds right. Bank of Ireland: "The caller sounds calm, professional and helpful, but quickly creates urgency."
• •In one version the caller asks for nothing that sounds like fraud. Bank of Ireland described callers who "do not ask for any security details", such as PINs or codes, "avoiding common 'red flags' associated with fraud"
• •Moving money to protect it sounds responsible, not reckless. The fear is of losing your money, and the instruction feels like the cure
• •A text can follow to make it look settled. FraudSMART describes one saying the new IBAN "will be processed in 24 hours", with a fake lodgement reference, to "delay detection"
• •Bank of Ireland's Head of Fraud: "these scams are carefully designed to feel real, and anyone can be targeted."