Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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180. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding alleged text messages from the Revenue Commissioners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50557/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that on 6 November 2013 it came to their attention that fraudulent text messages purporting to be from Revenue were in circulation. This particular scam took the form of a message referring to an Irish tax refund. Recipients were invited to visit a website and to enter the 4 digit number contained in the message. Recipients who followed the instructions were then asked to provide certain information including their bank account and credit card details.

Immediately on becoming aware on this matter, Revenue placed a warning notification on the home page of their website (www.revenue.ie) - this warning is still on the website. The notification confirms that the text message in question is not from Revenue and reminds customers that Revenue never sends unsolicited text messages. It further instructs recipients to ignore such messages and advises those who might have provided personal information to contact their bank or credit card company immediately. Revenue used social media to draw attention to this matter and there was coverage of the matter in national and local media. Revenue also contacted the Internet Service Provider hosting the website referred to in the text message and requested that it be closed down. It should be noted that this particular scam has already crossed six different websites in three different countries.

I am advised by Revenue that there is no connection between the receipt of this fraudulent text message and contact of any manner a person may have made with Revenue in the past. The perpetrators of the text message scam sourced mobile telephone numbers from a source or sources unknown and issued texts in the hope that a percentage of recipients would reply and provide personal information of the type outlined. In that context also the Deputy should be aware that the ‘Security’ section of Revenue’s website carries warnings about fraudulent emails and text messages.

Finally, the security of their systems and customer information is a priority for Revenue. Their systems are accredited to ISO27001 standard for information security and are regularly audited and tested.