Payment fraud now worth €160m as 815,000 scam payments recorded

Central Bank warns fraudulent payments on the rise

The number of fraudulent payments recorded in Ireland surged 40% last year, costing businesses and individuals €160m, with scam online payments alone costing €124m. 

The number of fraudulent payments recorded in Ireland surged 40% last year, costing businesses and individuals €160m, with scam online payments alone costing €124m. 

Figures released by the Central Bank show online payments accounted for 77.4% of the total fraudulent value in 2024. 

Irish resident payment service providers (PSPs) recorded 815,000 fraudulent payments overall in 2024, up from 579,000 in 2023. 

Card payment fraud increased slightly by 2.5% amounting to €45m while credit transfers declined by 4.3% from €70.7m to €67.7m in 2024.

Fraudulent e-money payments increased significantly to €25.6m in 2024 from €3.3m in 2023. Similarly, fraudulent money remittances more than doubled from €8.2m in 2023 to €20.4m in 2024. 

Direct debit and cheque fraud recorded declined in value considerably last year, from €356,000 to just €9,500 in 2023 for direct debits and from €1m to €178,700 for cheques.

In 2024, some €6.7m in peer-to-peer payment fraud was recorded. These include mobile app and digital wallet  payments, and the cost of this has more than doubled from €3.2m in 2023. 

The payment service user - the individual making the payment - had to bear the value of 66% of the total fraud losses. However, for card payments, the majority of the losses were borne by the payment service provider - often the bank or financial institution - accounting for 85% of the losses, totalling €11.6m in 2024.

The chief executive of the Compliance Institute, Michael Kavanagh, said the payment fraud statistics offer further evidence of how pervasive a threat it now carries. "Hackers and cybercriminals are continuously improving their practices, constantly finding new ways of stealing material and outsmarting even the most advanced of security systems. The growing sophistication of fraudsters means scams have become harder to spot, and therefore easier to fall for," said Mr Kavanagh.

"The significant rise in money remittance fraud and fraudulent e-money transactions, is of particular concern and is proof of just adept cybercriminals have become at exploiting digital systems and bypassing security measures."

For fraud concentrated in domestic transactions, the most affected payment types are cheques, cash withdrawals and e-money.

Overall, cross-border payments dominate fraud trends across all payment types except cheques and cash withdrawals.

Proceeds from fraudulent payments are predominantly transferred to accounts located outside Ireland. Incidents of fraud are more prominent when measures such as the EU’s strong customer authentication (SCA) are not in place.

Mr Kavanagh said that people must take ownership of what they can do to protect their data. "Adequate security and anti-virus software are crucial. Regular password changes are very important. When shopping online, look for a padlock symbol beside the website address and ensure the web address begins with ‘https’ as both indicate the site is secure. Avoid clicking on links from social media or pop-up ads; instead, type the website address directly into your browser.”