GARDAI are urging people to be wary of investment fraud after €13.5 million was stolen from victims already this year.
Investment fraud occurs when criminals pose as investment managers to fool people into investing money in schemes and projects that do not exist.
Gardai said that over €75 million was reported stolen in Ireland through investment fraud between January 2020 and this month.
Over €28 million was stolen from investment fraud victims in Ireland last year, more than in 2021 and 2022 combined.
While already this year, more has already been stolen than in either 2022 or 2021.
Criminals are taking advantage of cloning webpages and targeting victims through online and social media adverts.
They promise “once-in-a-lifetime opportunities” to instantly invest with fast and large financial returns.
Gardai said that between January 2020 and August this year, over 1,117 people reported incidents of investment fraud, 44 per cent of which mentioned ‘Bitcoin’ or ‘Crypto‘.
Men are increasingly becoming the victims of this type of fraud and remain most at risk.
The majority of victims in the past four years have been male (64 per cent) and those aged over 40 make up over half of all victims.
Detective Superintendent Michael Cryan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau said that investment fraud “is on the rise” and the schemes are “more sophisticated than ever before”.
He added: “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.
“Investment fraud can easily happen and no one is to be judged – we really encourage anyone who has been a victim in the past or who has more recently become a victim of investment fraud to please come forward and speak with us in any Garda Station.”
Gardai reported earlier this year about a victim who saw a post on social media advertising investment opportunities.
Reported incidents
The woman contacted the company, which she believed was legitimate, and during their engagement she agreed to transfer €28,600 from her Revolut account to another.
And gardai said that this crime is currently being investigated.
A man also came forward to the gardai to report that he was the victim of an online trading broker. 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.
Broker disappeared
He continued to invest considerable sums of money and, within weeks, had invested €250,000.
And the online trading broker disappeared, and the victim suffered a huge financial loss – Gardaí are investigating this case.
Another victim, after seeing an advert on a social media platform for an investment scheme, 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.
Couldn’t access wallet
He was recently assured that he held over €727,000 in 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 tax to access funds.
It was then that he realised he may have invested in a fraudulent scheme and reported it to the gardai.
Gardai advises people not to invest money until they get reliable financial and legal advice.
Tips to avoid fraud
They said: “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
“Beware of celebrity-endorsed investments – they may not even know that their name is being used, [and] be careful of cryptocurrency, bank bonds and hedge fund investment opportunities that present unusually high % returns.”
They also urged people to be wary of fake wallets and cryptocurrency, not click on links for webpages that they don’t know, and always check that the site is HTTPS secured.