A single victim of investment fraud in Ireland lost approximately one million euro, according to gardai.
Gardai said that 25,360,000 euro was reported stolen in 2023, almost equal to the same amounts stolen in 2021 and 2022 . Gardai said that sophisticated criminals are taking advantage during the cost-of-living crisis by cloning webpages and targeting victims through online and social media adverts, promising "once-in-a-lifetime opportunities" to instantly invest with fast and large financial returns. It said more than 965 people have reported incidents of investment fraud to Gardai in the four-year period from January 2020.
He was later contacted by phone from a person purporting to be from a reputable financial institution about purchasing bank bonds, and was defrauded of 100,000 euro. During 2023, a man in his 60s reported that he had been contacted online about investing with a British financial institution and then had 300,000 euro stolen after transferring funds.
Some of the advertisements use fake and manipulated testimonials from celebrities to encourage people to follow through with the fraud investments. For example, people have reported manipulated adverts featuring Tanaiste Micheal Martin and former RTE news anchor Anne Doyle. He added: "A lot of the victims will talk about people with very well-spoken British accents. That is a common denominator across a lot of the investment frauds." The fraud investigator said the bad actors, who often follow scripts, appear to "know what they're talking about" on investments and cryptocurrencies.
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Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »