Local businesses and consumers are being warned to be on alert as fraudsters target thousands of customers who are switching banks.
The 'FraudSmart' warning comes as it emerges that in the first six months of this year - text message scams conned people out of €1,700 each on average.
In the business world - invoice fraud - where fraudsters convince companies that a client has changed bank account - is costing them an average €14,000.
Niamh Davenport - head of financial crime with the Banking & Payments Federation - says companies need to be extra vigilant.
"The problem with this is quite a serious one," she continued.
"By the time people realise they have paid a fraudster, quite a lot of time has probably lapsed.
"Often it's when people get reminders to pay the invoice and the say 'we have already paid it'.
"They only realise when they contact the supplier directly that they have actually updated their bank account details from a fake email.
"Big companies are being impacted by this too - everyone is affected by these email scams."
