INVESTMENT FRAUD ROCKETED by more than 90% last year according to new Garda figures.

A total €25,360,000 was reported stolen in 2023, with almost €60 million stolen from victims in the past four years.

Investment fraud involves criminals posing as investment managers to fool someone into putting money into schemes and projects that do not exist.

In the first two months of 2024, over 55 people have reported investment fraud, more than double the number in the same period last year.

An Garda Síochána is advising the public to pay particularly close attention when considering any potential investments given the significant rise in fraud cases.

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 the two years previous, €14m in 2021 and €11.5m 2022.

Gardaí said that during a period of high cost of living, “sophisticated criminals are taking advantage by cloning webpages and targeting victims through online and social media adverts”.

The ads falsely offer “once in a lifetime opportunities” for investors, promising speedy and substantial returns. 

Between January 2020 and January of this year, more than 965 people have reported incidents of investment fraud to the gardaí.

Men are increasingly becoming the victim of this type of fraud. The majority of victims last year were male (69%), a figure that has steadily increased since 2020, when men made up just over half.

The vast majority of those affected are aged over 40.

As part of its report, An Garda Síochána provided some examples of investment fraud cases from the last 12 months.

In one case, in January this year, a man in his 70s reported that he had over €190,000 stolen after he had invested the money in what he thought was a legitimate British company.

In another instance last year, a man in his 40s clicked on a social media link advertising investment opportunities and entered his contact details. He was later contacted by phone by a person purporting to be from a reputable financial institution about purchasing bank bonds and was defrauded €100,000.

Another man had €300,000 stolen after being contacted online by what he thought was a reputable British financial institution. 

Earlier this year, a man in his 50s had €121,000 stolen in a “particularly sophisticated crime” in which 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.

In another case, a woman in her 60s saw an advert on social media about an investment opportunity in cryptocurrency. She later reported the theft of €50,000.

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.

“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.”

He said investment fraud can happen “quite easily” and that fraudsters often sound convincing with claims to having insider knowledge. 

“But they are following a well-rehearsed script, they’re prepared for potential questions and they tend to be excellent actors,” he said.

“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.”

He encouraged anyone who has been the victim of such a scam to come forward and report it to gardaí. 

So, how can people avoid investment fraud? Here is the advice from An Garda Síochána:

• Do not invest until you get reliable financial and legal advice
• Check the regulatory status of the company via the Central Bank of Ireland webpage
• Do not respond to pop-up/social media ads or messages with claims about investment returns
• Ignore unsolicited approaches or cold calls about investments
• Beware of celebrity-endorsed investments – they may not even know that their name is being used
• Be careful of cryptocurrency, bank bonds and hedge fund investment opportunities that present unusually high % returns
• Be wary of fake wallets for storing your cryptocurrency – these can be scams for malware to infect or control your computer
• Do not click on links for webpages that you don’t know and always check that the site is HTTPS secured
• Never allow anyone remote access to your computer or download Apps that can give others control of your computer – ‘AnyDesk’ is one example
• Take your time to consider before sending or transferring any money – get a second opinion from a friend, family member, colleague if not a financial advisor
• Never disclose personal data or bank account passwords or codes.