Gardaí have warned of a massive increase in investment fraud in recent months, with a huge spike in losses towards the end of 2023.
An Garda Síochána is advising the public to pay particular close attention when considering any potential investments given the significant rise in investment fraud.
By the end of Q4, 2023 over €25 million had been stolen from victims of investment fraud in Ireland.
This is almost equal to the combined amount stolen from victims in 2021 and 2022, €14m and €11.5m respectively.
In the first two months of 2024 alone, over 55 people have reported investment fraud offences.
Investment fraud is where criminals pose as investment managers to fool someone into investing money in schemes and projects that do not exist.
During a period of high cost of living, these sophisticated criminals are taking advantage by cloning webpages and targeting victims through online and social media adverts by promising ‘once in a lifetime opportunities’ to instantly invest with fast and large financial returns.
Detective Superintendent Michael Cryan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau said, “People are always going to be attracted to the promise of big profits. That is why these sophisticated, fraudulent investments are on the rise.”
“Those affected by this type of crime are ordinary people who really unfortunately can lose their life savings, nest eggs or a retirement lump sum.”
“Investment fraud can quite easily happen – the fraudster will sound convincing and claim to have insider knowledge but they are following a well-rehearsed script, they’re prepared for potential questions and they tend to be excellent actors.”
“They may purport to be working with a reputable firm and may even quote authorisation numbers or give the real address of a legitimate firm but this is all a coy.”
“I strongly encourage anyone who has been a victim in the past or who has more recently become a victim of investment fraud to please come forward and speak with us in any Garda Station.”
Earlier this year, a man in his 50’s had €121,000 stolen after being conned into thinking he was engaged in legitimate online trading.
This was a particularly sophisticated crime as the victim had access to an online trading app and believed that he could see his funds being traded, however, the app itself was fake.
During 2023, a victim in his 60’s reported that he had been contacted online about investing with a British financial instiution.
After being convinced by the person he was communicating with, he transferred funds and had €300,000 stolen.
A woman in her 60’s saw an advert on social media about an investment opportunity in cryptocurrency. She reported the theft of €50,000 through investment fraud.
Between January 2020 and January this year, over 965 people have reported incidents of investment fraud to A Garda Síochána.
Over double the number of victims have reported the crime to An Garda Síochána in the first two months of this year (2024) in comparison to January and February, 2023.
Men are increasingly becoming the victims of this type of fraud.
The majority of victims last year were male (69%) – this has steadily increased since 2020 when men made up just over half. The vast majority of those affected are aged over 40.
