Online fraudsters set to swindle Irish out of €4.5m by year’s end

IRISH people lost almost €3million to investment fraud so far this year – and the figure is expected to soar to over €4.5million by the end of 2020.

The vast majority of fraud is now online – most of it came from internet cryptocurrencies or pop-up ads.

Cryptocurrencies are a type of digital currency used for making purchases online, leaving some people vulnerable to fraudsters who claim to be able to sell them cut-rate cryptocurrency.

Real-life examples cited by gardaí yesterday include one woman who initially lost €375,000 that she invested in an online company that was supposedly buying online cryptocurrency.

The fraudsters sent her reports saying her deposits were growing and that she was making profits. She invested even more money and when she tried to cash it, she discovered it was all gone.

Almost all the victims either saw a pop-up ad or entered their contact details onto fraudulent websites, gardaí said yesterday.

They also cited another major case in which an Irish businessperson was in contact with a man they met over the internet. The businessperson was persuaded to invest in the man’s business and lost over €120,000. The entire time, the victim was told that if they reached a certain target of investment, they would receive a larger return.

Small-scale fraud uncovered by gardaí included a victim who was contacted online and persuaded to invest €4,000 in company shares. Gardaí warned that the fraudsters are sometimes able to take control of the victim’s computer once contact has been made.

‘The victim is contacted by a person almost immediately upon entering their phone numbers in contact boxes on the websites, and in some cases, on the advice of the caller, they downloaded links that allowed the caller take control of their computer,’ gardaí said.

Almost 80% of those who reported investment fraud were aged over 40. Gardaí said the lure is usually promises of enormous, fast returns, adding: ‘It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and includes hard, aggressive selling and can be seen to be endorsed by reputable businesspeople and/or celebrities, but this is without their knowledge.’