Fraudsters duped Irish online shoppers out of nearly €45m in just six months

Fraudsmart said the increase  was driven by online card fraud or 'card not present', where a fraudster uses the victim’s compromised card information to make an online purchase.

Fraudsters stole nearly €45m from Irish consumers through a variety of scams in just six months.

The startling figure comes as more consumers turn towards online shopping ahead of Christmas and as the busy Black Friday sale period kicks off.

The number of instances where scammers duped people out of money via electronic transfer or direct debit rose by 205% in the second half of last year, with most kinds of fraud up in 2021, according to an awareness initiative led by the Irish banking sector.

Fraudsmart, from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, said fraudsters stole nearly €45m from consumers through a variety of scams in the second half of 2021. This was an overall increase of 37% on the previous year.

The BPFI is now warning households and online shoppers to be wary of scammers trying to fool them, in particular as people look to bag a bargain when it comes to Black Friday sales or finding the perfect Christmas gift.

BPFI head of financial crime Niamh Davenport said: “We know that fraudsters are continuously updating and adapting their tactics and tools.

“As well as scam texts, phone calls, and emails, scammers have developed a range of techniques to convince online users to disclose key personal or financial information.” 

Debit and credit card fraud, including at ATMs, rose 18.5% to hit €14.5m, the highest level since 2017.

Fraudsmart said this increase was driven by online card fraud or “card not present”, where a fraudster uses the victim’s compromised card information to make an online purchase.

The soaring value of unauthorised credit transfers and direct debit fraud reached €21.5m in the second half of 2021, reflecting a sharp increase in online and mobile banking fraud.

“This type of fraud happens when a payment is made by another person without the account holder’s authorisation or permission and usually results from the loss, theft, or misappropriation of sensitive payment data (such as account numbers and PINs),” Fraudsmart said.

The average fraud under this heading was as high as €4,163. While these kinds of fraud accounted for just 3.1% of all fraudulent transactions, they accounted for 58% of gross losses in the second half of 2021.

In contrast, the average card payment fraud value was only €90 but payment cards accounted for 96.1% of unauthorised payment transactions.

Separately, the report also highlights that consumers were duped out of €7.6m through authorised push payments. This was down 4.4% year on year. This kind of fraud takes place when a victim is duped into transferring money from their account to a fraudster’s account such as through romance or investment scams.

Some tips issued by Fraudsmart to avoid such scams included using sites where a padlock symbol is shown beside the website address, never using public wifi when making payments, and independently visiting the website of the online sales company as opposed to clicking on social media or pop-up adverts.

Fraudsmart said: “Be cautious about claiming outrageous offers — if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Stick to well-known websites or websites that you are familiar with, or websites associated with high street retail outlets.”

Meanwhile, new data from AIB shows that Irish shoppers plan to spend over €18,000 every minute on Black Friday. The data says women will spend 66% more than men, and the key time for shopping is from 10am to midday as shoppers log on during work hours.

A total of €26m is expected to be spent online on Friday, with clothing and jewellery the main targets for shoppers.

Those between the ages of 25 and 34 are most likely to shop online at midnight, hoping to grab a bargain before everyone else.