AI Phishing & Tenant Data: A Survival Guide for Irish Letting Agents

The New Cyber Threat: AI-Powered Phishing

If you’re a property manager in Ireland right now, you already have enough to worry about. You are juggling RTB registrations, the new AML reporting rules, viewing schedules, and a landlord who wants their statement yesterday. The last thing you need is a clunky “Congratulations, You’ve Won!” emailing you about a multimillion-euro lottery win.

But here is the scary part: the “lottery winner” is gone. It has been replaced by an Artificial Intelligence that writes better English than a Trinity Professor, knows your biggest landlord’s name, and sends emails at 4:35 PM on a Friday when your guard is down.

We’re entering a new era of fraud in 2026. It’s no longer about “hacking computers”; it’s about hacking people. And for Irish letting agencies holding thousands of PPS numbers, bank details, and passport copies, the target on your back has never been larger.

This isn’t fear-mongering; it’s the new reality of AI-Powered Business Email Compromise (BEC). And if you are relying on a standard firewall and “common sense” to stop it, you are fighting a sniper with a water pistol.

Key Takeaways:

• The Threat: AI tools are now writing perfect phishing emails that bypass standard firewalls, with AI-powered impersonation identified as a top cyber threat for 2026.
• The Risk: Irish agents holding PPS numbers and bank details face heavy DPC fines for breaches, with “unauthorized disclosure” (sending emails to the wrong person) being a leading cause of reports.
• The Solution: You need “AI-driven” email security (like Inky) to fight AI threats; human eyes are no longer enough to spot the difference.

How Phishing Has Evolved: The Rise of BEC

In the “old days” (meaning 2023), phishing emails were easy to spot. They had bad grammar, weird urgency (“URGENT ACCOUNT SUSPENDED”), and came from email addresses that looked like a cat walked across a keyboard (info@amaz0n-security-update.xy).

In 2026, the game has changed completely.

Generative AI tools (like the ones used to write poems or essays) are now being used by cybercriminal gangs to write perfect, context-aware emails. This has led to a massive surge in Business Email Compromise (BEC)—where a fraudster impersonates a senior executive, a supplier, or a landlord to trick staff into transferring money.

According to recent cybersecurity data, BEC attacks have surged by over 1,760% (KnowBe4) in the last few years, largely driven by AI tools that allow attackers to generate highly convincing emails at scale. In fact, AI-generated phishing is widely considered the top enterprise threat of 2026.

How AI “Learns” Your Agency

Before the email even lands in your inbox, the AI has done its homework. It scrapes LinkedIn to find out who your Senior Property Manager is. It checks your website to see which contractors you use.

Then, it strikes.

The “Phantom Landlord” Scenario: Imagine your accounts administrator, gets an email from “David,” one of your biggest landlords.

• The Subject Line: “Re: 44 Main Street – Maintenance Invoice”
• The Tone: Friendly, casual, using the same sign-off David always uses (“Best, Dave”).
• The Ask: “Hi Sarah, I’ve switched banks since the last payout. Can you update the details for this month’s rent transfer? New IBAN attached. Thanks, Dave.”

There are no spelling errors. The logo in the signature is perfect. The email address looks right (maybe david@gmail.com became david@gmaiI.com — a tiny change the human eye misses).

Sarah updates the details. The rent is paid. Two weeks later, the real David calls asking where his money is. The money is gone, and because Sarah authorised the payment herself, the bank often won’t refund it.

This is Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud, and it is devastating. In Ireland, “invoice redirection” remains one of the most common and costly types of fraud hitting businesses.

The Fact is: Irish Property Managers are Targets for Data Theft

Property managers in Ireland sit on a “goldmine” of data. Under the Residential Tenancies Acts and AML obligations, you are required to collect and store highly sensitive data:

• PPS Numbers (for RTB registration)
• Photo ID (Passports/Driving Licenses)
• Bank Statements and Employment References

If a hacker gains access to your email system via a phishing link, they don’t just want your money – they want this data. A breach involving tenant data isn’t just an IT issue; it is a GDPR nightmare.

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) in Ireland has been increasingly active, handing out significant fines for data mishandling. But beyond the big headlines like TikTok or Meta, smaller Irish entities (like local councils and credit unions) are also being fined for basic security failures.

The “Reply-All” Trap

It is not just hackers; it is human error. A common DPC complaint in the property sector occurs when an agent sends a generic email to 50 tenants (e.g., “Bin Collection Updates”) and puts everyone in the “To” or “CC” field instead of “BCC”. Suddenly, every tenant has every other tenant’s private email address.

While this seems minor, it is a reportable data breach. And when you combine human error with AI-powered attackers who are trying to trick your staff into making mistakes, the risk becomes unmanageable without help.

Why Your Firewall Is Useless Against AI

“But we have a firewall and antivirus,” you say.

Here is the uncomfortable truth: Firewalls are designed to stop computer code, not conversations.

Traditional security looks for “malicious payloads”—viruses, dodgy attachments, or links to known blacklisted sites. But an AI phishing email often has no link and no attachment. It is just text. It is a conversation starter (“Are you at your desk?”, “Can you do me a favor?”).

Because there is no “virus” in the email, it sails right through your firewall and lands in Sarah’s inbox.

Furthermore, 62% of Irish businesses now identify AI-powered tools as a major emerging cyber risk. The attackers are using AI to bypass the very filters you rely on.

The Yellowcom Solution: AI Phishing Prevention Ireland

At Yellowcom, we talk to Property Managers in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Ireland every day. We know you don’t care about “bits and bytes.” You care about:

1. Compliance: Not getting fined by the DPC.
2. Reputation: Not having to tell a landlord you lost their rent.
3. Sanity: Not dealing with three different call centres when the internet goes down.

1. How Can Irish Agents Stop Phishing? (Inky)

Since firewalls can’t read, we use Inky. Think of Inky as a highly suspicious “AI Bouncer” that lives in your email. It reads every email that comes in and checks it against a massive database of “normal” behavior.

• If an email says it’s from “David the Landlord” but Inky sees it came from a server in Russia, it stamps a big red warning banner on the email: “This looks like David, but isn’t.”
• It catches the invisible spoofing that human eyes miss. It stops the “Invoice Fraud” before your staff can even reply.

2. The Human Firewall (SATT)

Technology stops 99% of threats, but your staff are the last line of defence. We provide Security Awareness Team Training (SATT). This isn’t boring PowerPoint slides from 2010. These are short, engaging, automated simulations.

• We send “fake” phishing emails to your team (safely).
• If they click, they get a quick 60-second video lesson on what they missed.
• Over time, your staff become cynical, sharp, and “un-hackable.”

3. The Early Warning System (Dark Web ID)

Hackers often use old passwords from years ago to break into systems. Our Dark Web ID tool is like a spotlight. It constantly scans the hidden parts of the internet. If one of your employees’ emails and passwords pops up for sale on a hacker forum (perhaps from an old LinkedIn or Adobe breach), we get an alert immediately.

• We force a password reset before the hackers can use the stolen credentials to log in.

Get Your Free Cyber Risk Check

You wouldn’t let a tenant move in without a reference check. Why let emails into your business without checking them?

If you are worried that your current IT setup might be a bit “2023” in a “2026” world, we can help.

We offer a Free Cyber Risk Check for Irish Letting Agents.

• It takes 15 minutes.
• It’s non-intrusive (we don’t need your passwords).
• It gives you a simple “Red, Amber, Green” score on your risk of being hit by AI Phishing.

Don’t wait for the frantic Friday phone call from a landlord.

Secure your digital foundation today.

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Useful Links & Resources for Irish Agents

Official Data Protection Guidance

• DPC Guidance for Landlords & Agents: The official “Cheat Sheet” from the Data Protection Commission on exactly what tenant data you can (and cannot) ask for.
• The 2024 DPC Annual Report: A summary of recent fines and data breach trends in Ireland, including specific notes on unauthorized disclosures.
• DPC Recent Fines: Irish Data Protection Commission fines TikTok €530 million and orders corrective measures following Inquiry into transfers of EEA User Data to China

Cyber Threat Statistics

• The Rise of AI Phishing (KnowBe4): Data on how Generative AI has caused a 1,760% surge in Business Email Compromise attacks.
• Gov.uk Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025: The official findings showing that while general attacks are down, “AI-powered impersonation” and sophisticated phishing are now the top threats to businesses.