More than €28 million was stolen from victims of investment fraud in Ireland last year, as gardaí issued a warning to the public.
The amount of money stolen from victims of investment fraud has dramatically risen, with the amount taken last year more than the previous two years combined.
Figures released by gardaí also show that between January 2020 and this month, over €75 million was reported stolen in Ireland through investment fraud.
So far this year, more than €13.5 million has been taken from victims of investment fraud in Ireland.
Gardaí have advised the public to pay particular close attention when considering any potential investments given the “staggering” amounts involved.
Investment fraud is where criminals pose as investment managers to fool someone into funding schemes and projects that do not exist.
Gardaí said that during a period of high cost of living, criminals are taking advantage by cloning webpages and targeting victims through online and social media adverts by promising “once-in-a-lifetime opportunities” to instantly invest with fast and large financial returns.
Between January 2020 and August this year, over 1,117 people have reported incidents of investment fraud, with 44 per cent of the reported incidents made reference to Bitcoin or Crypto.
Men are increasingly becoming the victim of the type of fraud and remain most at risk.
The majority of victims in the past four years have been men (64 per cent) and those aged over 40 make up over half of all victims.
Gardaí disclosed several reported incidents from this year which include;
Earlier this year a victim reported that she saw a post on social media advertising investment opportunities.
The woman made contact with the company, which she believed was legitimate, and during the course of their engagement she agreed to transfer €28,600 from her Revolut account to another.
Separately, a man came forward to report that he was the victim of an investment fraud after he came across a trading broker online.
He initially invested €250 and after several more investments he noticed his equity rising rapidly.
He was able to withdraw €5,000 and therefore believed that the company was legitimate.
He continued to invest considerable size sums of money and within weeks had invested €250,000.
The online trading broker disappeared and the victim has suffered a huge financial loss.
In another incident, after seeing an advert on a social media platform for an investment scheme, this victim reported that he had filled in his personal details and was contacted by purporting to be involved in the investment opportunity.
After some discussion, the victim believed would be investing in trading through a mobile app and was enticed to send on €45,000.
He was recently assured that he held over €727,000 return which was available in USD coin via an Ethereum wallet but when he checked he could not access it in an Atomic wallet.
When he questioned this with his contact, the victim was told would need to pay €36,000 in Dirt (Deposit Interest Retention Tax ) tax to access to funds.
It was then that he realised he may have invested in a fraudulent scheme and reported it to An Garda Siochana.
Gardaí advised the public to not invest money 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 and ignore unsolicited approaches or cold calls about investments.
Detective Superintendent Michael Cryan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau said: “Investment fraud is on the rise and the schemes are more sophisticated than ever before.
“Sadly, those who become victims are ordinary, decent people that are having huge amounts of their life savings stolen from them be it their inheritance or a retirement lump sum.
“The fraudsters involved in fraudulent investment schemes will sound convincing and claim to have insider knowledge but they are career criminals that are following a well-rehearsed script.
“It is crucially important that we are all mindful of who were are transferring money too and to be careful when sending via an international money transfer app to make sure it can be tracked."
