Gardaí have issued a warning about investment-based scams, with a sharp rise in cases this year and the total amount stolen doubling.
In the first nine months of this year, €18.6 million was stolen from people in the State through such frauds, compared to €11 million in all of last year.
Many of those being targeted in Ireland are aged 40 or older and many victims lose their life savings, which they have set aside over many years to go towards their retirement, gardaí said.
The frauds involve criminals posing as investment managers and offering what appear to be attractive opportunities to invest in schemes that turn out not to exist. They are often run by polished fraudsters using high quality cloned websites that appear to be legitimate, even to those who make background checks.
Gardaí are concerned that, despite publicity campaigns to educate people about such frauds, more and more are falling victim to them. Sources said the vast majority of the money was quickly moved outside Ireland to the UK.
While frauds of all kinds – especially based on scam emails, texts and social media messaging – increased exponentially during the pandemic, investment fraud is still growing.
Det Supt Michael Cryan, of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, said about seven in 10 victims are over the age of 40 years, with men the victims in around 65 per cent of cases. The average amount stolen from this year has been €33,431.
“People are always going to be attracted to promises of big profits,” Det Supt Cryan said. “That’s why these sophisticated, fraudulent investments are on the rise, worldwide, not just in Ireland. The victims in most investment frauds are ordinary people who lose their life savings and retirement nest eggs.”
Between 2021 and last year, some €25 million was stolen from people in Ireland to investment fraud, with the figure for this year on course to exceed €20 million. Det Supt Cryan urged people to “be wary where the return being offered sounds too good to be true or where there is a degree of urgency” to “a once in a lifetime opportunity”.
He added that people should always seek financial advice when being offered any opportunity, financial product or cryptocurrency-based offer. People should also check the Central Bank’s website to ensure any person or company who approaches them is registered.
Many of those engaged in investment fraud operate under an assumed identity, often backed by cloned websites and email addresses.
Det Supt Cryan said the number of frauds had perhaps increased this year as returns from conventional investments, including products from the banks, were currently quite low, meaning some people were looking for other opportunities with higher returns.
He said many victims will become aware of the so-called investment opportunity via online adverts, on websites or social media. Often, he said, some personal details are requested, such as email addresses or phone numbers, which enable the fraudsters to contact their intended victims.
The bogus investment opportunities are set out by people who “sound very, very professional”, have pre-prepared scripts and are ready to respond to any queries. Det Supt Cryan said after the money is transferred victims often receive “charts and graphs” purporting to set out the performance of the sum of the investment.
“It’s only really when you try to draw down your money, or you try to contact them (the fraudsters), that you realise you’ve been the victim of a fraud,” he said. At that stage, he said, “it’s quite difficult to recover money” though there had been some successes in that regard.
