Consumers Lost €15.6M to Impersonation, Investment, and Romance Scams

Approximately 70% of Irish consumers have been targeted by some form of identity scam, according to the latest report by BPFI.

The Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has released a report that states a total of €15.6m has been lost by the victims of scams, particularly impersonation, investment, and romance scams. The data reveals that on average, scam victims are being conned out of €5,300.

This reveals a sharp rise in scams that occurred amidst the pandemic, with a jump of 80% reported in 2020.

In the 12 months leading to July 2021, approximately 70% of consumers had been targeted by some form of identity scam. These scams often take place through a text, phone call, or email sent to the victim that appears to be from a trusted organization. 

Nearly half of such scams involved criminals that pretended to be a government department or agency, including the Revenue Commissioners and An Garda Síochána.

BPFI further added that the surge in e-commerce makes the industry a lucrative target for criminals, as one in five criminals reportedly impersonated delivery companies, while over a third claimed to be from a bank.

The victims were primarily targeted through a combination of techniques in a bid to appear legitimate. Communication channels commonly used for scams included a mixture of emails, cold calls, follow-on calls, voice messages, and text messages.

Among all, phone calls remained the most common medium used by scammers. 72% of victims were contacted by phone – a value twice as high as were contacted via email. On the other hand, 32% reported being contacted through text messages.

Minister for Justice Heather Humphreys also urged consumers to ignore any interaction seeking to gain sensitive personally identifiable information.