There was a nearly 70% increase in reports of investment fraud last year compared to the previous year.
In some cases the companies may even appear to be endorsed by reputable business people or celebrities without their knowledge.Anyone thinking of investing in cryptocurrencies should not invest until they have reliable financial and legal advice.Cold calls about investment opportunities should be ignored and people should beware of celebrity endorsed investments as they may not even be aware their name is being used.
"We look at a website and we tend to trust it as it looks professional but that's just a website it can be created in ten minutes, it can be leased from a domain provider for ten euro a month, it can look very very professional so don't be duped by a professional website," he said."They will be very well rehearsed and will anticipate the questions you will ask to encourage you to invest in products with them.
"People have lodged tens of thousands of euro at cryptocurrency ATM machines around Ireland to fraudsters," he added.