Fraudsters preyed on new online users during Covid-19, says expert

New data from the CSO shows a rise in fraud crimes in the last year, with experts saying vulnerable online users are being targeted

A 13% rise in fraud cases has been recorded by the CSO in the last year. Picture: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

The Covid-19 pandemic created a new demographic of online users who have been preyed on by fraudsters, a leading expert has said.

Figures published by the Central Statistics Office today showed while the pandemic caused a reduction in most types of crimes, the number of incidents classified as “fraud or related offences” increased by 1,101, or 13.7%, in the year to March.

Levels of recorded crime have fallen sharply during the pandemichttps://t.co/mDM6KfsRpp #CSOIreland #Ireland #Crime #RecordedCrime #CrimeStatistics #CrimeStats pic.twitter.com/eySDeG4JCX

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) June 17, 2021

There were also increases in the number of controlled-drug offences (+9.5%), as well as weapons and explosives offences (+7.6%).

Deloitte head of forensic Deirdre Carwood said the pandemic resulted in traditional, in-branch banking essentially disappearing, with a new generation of people moving online for essential services.

With that, fraudsters could see the older generation, or even some of the younger generation who might not have had an online presence before, so they noticed there was a demographic that was very vulnerable, and they preyed on that," Ms Carwood said.

"It's now moved beyond the banking scenario. It's anywhere money is passing to the public on a regular basis, so the likes of the PUP payments, and the company support payments as well."

Fraudsters are also becoming increasingly sophisticated, she added.

"The level of sophistication really makes you look twice," she said. 

They will understand by trawling through your social media, activities that you've done recently. They'll know you went to a gym and then use that information to build a profile on you and send a text purporting to be from that gym."

Overall, the pandemic had an otherwise positive impact on the reduction in crime, with the number of incidents categorised as burglary and related offences being down by 7,457, or 45.4%.

Theft and related offences also decreased significantly, with a reduction of 20,497, or 30.7%, while robbery, extortion, and hijacking offences were down by 609, or 26.4% when compared with the corresponding period to the first quarter of 2020.

There were also notable decreases in the numbers of crime incidents classified as attempts or threats to murder, assaults, harassments, and related offences, which decreased by 2,953, or 13.9%, while damage to property and to the environment fell by 11.4%, and public order and other social-code offences fell by 11.2%.

The data comes from the Gardaí’s PULSE computer system, which the CSO publishes “under reservation”, which means it has concerns about the quality of recorded data.

A total of 10,459 offences were recorded on PULSE for breaches of Covid-19 regulations in the first three months of 2021, a marked increase on the 1,090 such offences recording throughout 2020.

Justice minister Heather Humphreys described the "significant" increase in drug-related offences as a "cause for concern", adding the Government will continue to target this activity.