€3m lost to fake investment scams in first eight months of 2020

Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Lordan and Detective Superintendent Michael Cryan briefing the media today on the dangers of Investment Fraud:

Garda warn of surge in costly bogus investment opportunities Cormac O’Keeffe Security Correspondent Gardaí are issuing an alert to people about bogus investment opportunities, after a 160% increase in reported incidents this year.

Garda fraud officers estimate that around €4.5 million will be lost this year by people deceived into making investments, such as buying digital currencies, up from €3.35m in losses last year.

The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau gave examples of seven cases, in which around €550,000 was swindled from people duped into thinking they were making legitimate investments.

One of the cases involved more than €370,000, while another person lost around €120,000.

The GNECB said investors are often sucked in through pop up ads when online, some of which involve investments that falsely claim to have been endorsed by well-known Irish people.

After entering their contact details, they are immediately phoned by fraudsters who try and take control of their computers or access their bank accounts.

Victims are deceived into investing in property/funds/projects or businesses that do not exist or invest in crypto currencies.

The GNECB said they’ve had 65 reported cases so far this year, compared to 25 in the same period last year – an increase of 160%.

The cases were from across the country, with 18 in Dublin, 17 in Munster, 15 in Leinster, 13 in Connacht and three in Ulster.

Gardaí believe the crime is under-reported because of embarrassment, not wanting families to know, knowing the money is gone or, sometimes, believing the investment will come good.

Some 57% of the victims are aged over 50, 35% of them aged 60 and over.

To date, €2.94m has been lost in this type of fraud, compared to €1.68m in the same period last year – an increase of 75%.

Some €3.36m was taken during the whole of 2019 and the GNECB estimate around €4.5m will be lost for the whole of 2020, representing an increase of around 35%.

Bureau officers, Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Lordan and Detective Superintendent Michael Cryan advised people to seek independent financial and legal advice before making any investments and to heed that advice.

They said people should not respond to pop-up ads or ads on social media or follow links from unsolicited emails or messages.

Gardaí are issuing an alert to people about bogus investment opportunities, after a 160% increase in reported incidents this year.

Some of the key signs to watch out for with investment scams according to gardaí are:

• The victim is cold called, i.e. they receive a telephone call out of the blue or receive an e-mail or are contacted via social media about a great investment opportunity.
• The victim is rushed and pressured into making a decision there and then, with no opportunity or time to consider the investment opportunity.
• There is a promise of a quick and profitable return on the investment with little or no risk.
• If the victim does some research on the company name and see terms like ‘the reputation of this broker is doubtful’ or ‘at best it is an unregulated broker’ then caution should be taken and the victim should walk away 

The public are advised to:

• Always seek independent financial and legal advice before making any investments and heed this advice 
• Don’t respond to POP-UP ads, social media ads / contacts 
• Don’t follow links from POP-UP ads or from social media or unsolicited emails/messages or other communications from persons unknown 
• Don’t respond to cold calls 
• Be wary of unsolicited emails / texts / calls / offers / advices 
• Be wary where the investment is being endorsed by celebrities / famous business people – they may not know their name is attached to the advertisement 
• Never ever give away your banking codes, pins, passwords, or any other personal data 
• Don’t download suggested APPS and never allow another take control of your computer 
• Only use regulated entities. All Financial Services Providers which hold an authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland (‘Central Bank’), or where applicable, the SSM (the Single Supervisory Mechanism – European Central Bank), to provide financial services in Ireland are listed in the Central Bank Registers section. Prior to entering into a financial services transaction, members of the public can check the regulatory status of the firm they are dealing with