ONLINE GIFTS THAT never arrive and phone-calls that play on urgency. 

Those are some of the scams that gardaí are continuing to receive reports on heading into Christmas week. 

The Journal has been speaking to sources who are in involved in investigating complaints in recent days. 

The sources, who are experts in the field, said the holiday season is a boom for fraudsters.

In one recent incident gardaí came across a series of fake online adverts from a site that is similar to a well-known Irish brand.

People order the products but they never arrive and their money is never returned. 

“This scam works particularly in the months leading up to Christmas,” one source said. 

“They have paid for the products but they never arrive – the websites seem legitimate, they are well presented but they are ultimately designed to get your money and never deliver the product.”

Many of the methods being used by scammers have changed little from previous years, the sources said – noting that the usual smishing text messages were still catching victims in volume.

Smishing texts are where a text is received from a scammer who is purporting to be a person known to the victim.

“It could be claiming to be a child who lost their wallet, or someone they know is in difficulty. The advice is just pause and ring the person you know, don’t respond to the text message,” a source explained.

As one source put it: “This is catching lots of people and it isn’t about a particular background or demographic – it is catching everybody.”

Those smishing texts can also claim to be from your bank – sources said it will often be a text claiming there’s an issue with your account and that there is an urgent need to engage with a link to give your details. The critical solution is to ring the bank to verify the contact.

Invoice redirect fraud has also grown in intensity with many businesses being targeted in the run up to Christmas. Essentially a criminal slightly changes an email address from a colleague and claims that monies to be paid into an account must be shifted to another bank.

Again the advice is to not react to it and call the person in question.

“It is catching plenty of people out, very professional and experienced people. They are using the busy Christmas period and a sense of urgency to provoke a reaction.

“Treat everything with suspicion and if the normal course of action is changing then call up the person who you normally deal with,” a source said. 

The banks have also issued warnings with AIB this week urging customers to take particular care over the Christmas period and giving a breakdown of the types of scams used most often in 2025. 

The financial institution said that they have detected that 57% of all payment fraud reported originated from smishing. 8% of frauds are investment scams, while romance scams make up 2% of recorded frauds

They have also warned of so-called money mule frauds where scammers recruit people so they can use their bank accounts to launder money.

In terms of the online gift-shopping scams common at this time of year AIB warned: “Stick to trusted platforms, check reviews, and be wary of prices that seem too good to be true. A secure website will have a padlock icon in the URL bar.”

Mary McHale, Head of Financial Crime at AIB said: “The best defence is awareness—knowing what to look for and taking a moment to, wait a sec, double check before acting can make all the difference. Ask yourself could this be a scam.

“You may be busy this festive season, but always take the time to check. It could save you tens of thousands of euro, and could be the difference between a merry Christmas and a broke one.

Bank of Ireland have also issued warnings about smishing scams in particular and called for an ‘SMS scam filter’ to be introduced in Ireland. 

According to Nicola Sadlier, head of fraud at the bank: “Ireland is out of step with other English-speaking countries in not having an SMS scam filter, leaving Irish consumers more exposed to fraud attempts.

“We would strongly support the introduction of an SMS scam filter in Ireland, which requires legislation, as it would help block many of these fake text messages.”

An Garda Síochána did not respond to a request for comment but in the past their advice has been published here.