A Garda investigation is underway after hundreds of Bank of Ireland customers had their accounts raided in two branches over the weekend.
Customers in two Bank of Ireland branches in Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny and in Borris, Co Carlow had their current accounts accessed from the US over a three day period in a scamming operation which yielded thousands of euros for fraudsters.
It is understood that Bank of Ireland branches in Roscommon and Mayo were also hit in the past several weeks by the same scam.
Word of the electronic scam started to spread late on Sunday evening, which resulted in scores of worried customers queueing up outside the Graiguenamanagh branch on Monday and yesterday.
Bank of Ireland customers in Borris, Co Carlow were hit by the same scam the previous weekend.
Some customers had more than €2,000 taken from their accounts while others had several hundred euro taken out in small amounts over several days.
It is understood the scamming operation took place over three dates in January at the Graiguenamanagh and Borris branches but that the fraudulent withdrawals only appeared on customer accounts over two weekends.
Sums of €146.13 were taken from accounts over several days , showing up on account statements as $200 being withdrawn from ATMs in the US.
It is understood a small camera was placed at the side of the ATM and electronic device slipped over where the current card was placed into the machine.
With this method of fraud, the data is then downloaded by computer and sold on to fraudsters in countries which do not use chip and pin cards — one country being the US where the fraudulent activity was noticed.
Bank of Ireland confirmed gardaí had been notified. All affected customers will have their accounts reimbursed over the next couple of days and new cards will be issued.
In a statement the bank said: “Bank of Ireland wishes to reassure customers that it is our policy to fully refund any losses sustained as a result of this criminal activity.
“The bank is proactively contacting customers to confirm the fraud and issue replacement cards and will continue to closely monitor the situation, which is also under investigation by the gardaí.
“The bank may also cancel and reissue cards to customers to protect them from fraud if their card details are at risk.
“Bank of Ireland strongly advises customers to check bank statements regularly and to be vigilant when using their cards at retail outlets and at ATMs.
"Any such incident should be reported directly to the bank in question and the gardai immediately. www.safecard.ie offers a range of very appropriate advice for all card users that we recommend customers take time to read. "