Police are investigating after fraudsters targeted island residents via their mobile phones.

Isle of Man Bank confirmed that customers have been receiving fraudulent text messages.

These looks genuine and ask recipients to urgently call a fraud prevention number about a recent purchase that’s been made on their account.

Eventually, the unwitting victim is put through to a fake call centre and is asked to provide personal account details.

The fake text messages can appear within the same message thread as a genuine text message from Isle of Man Bank, making them difficult to spot.

Police confirmed they are investigating.

Isle of Man Bank insisted it has not been the victim of a data breach.

It said this was common scam targeting the Isle of Man as a whole and customers who don’t bank with Isle of Man Bank have also received these messages. The fraudsters were attempting to ’smish’ for real Isle of Man Bank customers, it said.

Smishing is where scammers use text messages to try to dupe people into disclosing personal account details.

Fraudsters often target certain dates, like half term holidays, bank holidays and the festive period.

Steve Wakelin, managing director of personal and business banking for Isle of Man Bank, said: ’Isle of Man Bank will never ask you for a card reader code over the phone.

’These are used for our customers’ security and should be kept secret.

’If you believe your account’s been compromised or you think you’ve given away your secret information, please get in touch with us soon as possible using only our published numbers.’

The bank is advising anyone who receives any suspicious messages to take the following precautions:

* Check the number you’re being asked to call. Only ever call the bank on a known or published number (such as on its website, the telephone directory or on your bank statement). Never call back on a number contained within a text message.

* Never use your card reader when logging into your online banking account, or over the phone.

*If you have responded to a message like this, you should contact the bank immediately.

*Recipients of fraudulent messages can help by sending a copy to the bank’s dedicated smishing number on 07860 009 378.