Phishing (E-mail Scams)
Phishing is a scam where bogus emails are sent to people in order to trick them into revealing personal or financial information. If an unwary person follows a link in the email, they will be taken to a fake web page, which will try to trick them into entering personal information such as a PIN, password, PPSN or bank account information. That information may be used in various ways, e.g. to apply for a credit card in the person's name or write cheques from their bank account. Phishing emails may pretend to come from government departments such as the Department of Education, as well as banks, credit card companies and online shops. They may contain realistic-looking logos and official-sounding text. They may even carry a warning about phishing.
Note: - Neither the Department of Education or the Scheme Administrators will ever send unsolicited emails
requesting personal information via email or pop-up window.
Please note that your email address can often be found from publicly available sources, or randomly generated. Therefore if you receive a fake email that appears to be from the Department of Education, this does not mean that your email address, name or any other information has been gathered from the Department of Education systems. If you receive an unsolicited email purporting to be from the Department of Education with a link to a website you should ignore it.
SMS Fraud – Smishing
'Smishing' is the name given to fraudulent schemes whereby you are sent an SMS (text message) containing a link to a fraudulent website or a phone number in an attempt to collect personal information. Smishing attacks, whereby people are sent a text message with links to a fake website that look similar to the Department of Education website have been reported.
Please remember that the Department of Education never send unsolicited text messages. If you receive an unsolicited text message purporting to be from the Department of Education with a link to a website you should ignore it.
Secure Web Pages
Pages on www.sab.ie which request personal information, are encrypted using an EV SSL certificate signed by GEOTrust, valid until 30th June 2022. You can verify that the page is secure by looking for a padlock icon in your browser, as well as a range of visible signs.
Standard (Non-Secured) E-mails
The Department of Education does not recommend sending personal or confidential information by email. Email is sent via public networks, and can be intercepted and read unless it is protected with encryption. Please note that the Department of Education cannot guarantee that any personal and sensitive data, sent in plain text via standard email, is fully secure. Customers who choose to use this channel are deemed to have accepted any risk involved.
Personal Contacts
On meeting with customers, the Department of Education officers in the exercise of powers on outdoor duty are required to identify themselves, show their official Department of Education Identity Card and state the purpose of the meeting. Officers should also provide business cards showing the address and telephone number of their office and the customer should use this information to confirm the bona fides of the officer.
Fioscaireacht (Sceamáil ríomhphoist)
Is sceamáil í fioscaireacht ina seoltar ríomhphoist bhréige chuig daoine
d’fhonn cleas a imirt orthu chun go nochtfaidh siad faisnéis phearsanta nó
airgeadais. Má leanann duine neamhfhaichilleach nasc sa ríomhphost,
tabharfar chuig leathanach gréasáin bréige é, a dhéanfaidh iarracht chun an
duine a mhealladh chun faisnéis phearsanta a iontráil cosúil le UAP,
pasfhocal, UPSP nó faisnéis chuntais bhainc. D'fhéadfaí an fhaisnéis sin a
úsáid ar bhealaí éagsúla, m.sh. chun iarratas a dhéanamh ar chárta
creidmheasa in ainm an duine nó seiceanna a scríobh óna gcuntas bainc.
D'fhéadfadh an dealramh a bheith ar ríomhphoist fioscaireachta go bhfuil
siad ag teacht ó ranna rialtais mar an Roinn Oideachais, ó bhainc, ó
chuideachtaí cárta creidmheasa agus ó siopaí ar líne. D’fhéadfadh go mbeadh
lógónna a bhfuil cuma réalaíoch orthu iontu chomh maith le téacs a bhfuil
dealramh oifigiúil air. Féadfaidh rabhadh faoi fhioscaireacht a bheith
iontu fiú amháin.
Tabhair do d'aire: - Ní sheolfaidh an Roinn Oideachais ná Riarthóirí na
Scéime ríomhphoist gan iarraidh
ina lorgaítear faisnéis phearsanta trí ríomhphost nó trí fhuinneog aníos ag
am ar bith.
Tabhair do d'aire le do thoil gur minic gur féidir teacht ar do sheoladh
ríomhphoist i bhfoinsí atá ar fáil go poiblí, nó a ghiniúint go randamach.
Dá bhrí sin, má fhaigheann tú ríomhphost bréige a bhfuil an dealramh air
gur ón Roinn Oideachais é, ní chiallaíonn sé sin gur bailíodh do sheoladh
ríomhphoist, d'ainm nó aon fhaisnéis eile ó chórais na Roinne Oideachais.
Má fhaigheann tú ríomhphost gan iarraidh a mhaíonn gur ón Roinn Oideachais
a thagann sé agus ag a bhfuil nasc chuig suíomh gréasáin ba cheart duit
neamhaird a dhéanamh air.
Calaois SMS - Smioscaireacht
Is é ‘Smioscaireacht’ an t-ainm a thugtar ar scéimeanna calaoiseacha trína
gcuirtear SMS (teachtaireacht téacs) chugat ina bhfuil nasc chuig suíomh
gréasáin nó uimhir theileafóin chalaoiseach mar iarracht chun faisnéis
phearsanta a bhailiú. Tuairiscíodh ionsaithe smioscaireachta trína
gcuirtear teachtaireacht téacs chuig daoine ina bhfuil naisc chuig suíomh
gréasáin bréige a bhfuil dealramh suíomh gréasáin na Roinne Oideachais air.
Cuimhnigh le do thoil nach seolann an Roinn Oideachais teachtaireachtaí
téacs gan iarraidh am ar bith. Má fhaigheann tú teachtaireacht téacs gan
iarraidh a mhaíonn gur ón Roinn Oideachais a thágann sé agus ag a bhfuil
nasc chuig suíomh gréasáin ba cheart duit neamhaird a dhéanamh air.
Leathanaigh Ghréasáin Shlána
Tá leathanaigh ar
www.sab.ie a iarrann faisnéis phearsanta, criptithe.
Baineann siad úsáid as deimhniú EV SSL arna shíniú ag GEOTrust. Tá sé bailí
go dtí an 30 Meitheamh 2022. Is féidir leat a fhíorú go bhfuil an
leathanach sábháilte trí dheilbhín glas fraincín a lorg i do bhrabhsálaí,
chomh maith le raon comharthaí atá le feiceáil.
Ríomhphoist Caighdeánacha (Neamh-Shlánaithe)
Ní mholann an Roinn Oideachais faisnéis phearsanta nó rúnda a sheoladh trí
ríomhphost. Seoltar ríomhphost trí líonraí poiblí, agus is féidir é a
sciobadh agus a léamh mura bhfuil sé cosanta trí chriptiú. Tabhair do
d'aire le do thoil nach féidir leis an Roinn Oideachais geallúint a
thabhairt go bhfuil aon sonraí pearsanta agus íogaire a sheoltar i
ngnáth-théacs trí ríomhphost caighdeánach, slán go hiomlán. Meastar go
bhfuil glactha ag custaiméirí a roghnaíonn an cainéal seo a úsáid le haon
riosca atá i gceist.
Teagmhálacha Pearsanta
Agus iad ag bualadh le custaiméirí, tá ar oifigigh na Roinne Oideachais
agus iad ag feidhmiú cumhachtaí ar dhualgas lasmuigh iad féin a chur in
aithne, a gCárta Aitheantais oifigiúil de chuid na Roinne Oideachais a
thaispeáint agus cuspóir an chruinnithe a chur in iúl. Ba cheart d’oifigigh
cártaí gnó a sholáthar freisin a thaispeánann seoladh agus uimhir
theileafóin a n-oifige agus ba cheart don chustaiméir an fhaisnéis seo a
úsáid chun bona fide an oifigigh a dhearbhú.
