One in Three Irish Adults Defrauded as 38% Never Report Incidents

More than one in three Irish adults has experienced fraud, yet 38% of those affected never inform their bank, payment provider, or any regulatory authority, according to research published by the Central Bank of Ireland on April 28, 2026. The findings, drawn from a nationally representative survey of almost 3,000 adults conducted between December 2024 and January 2025, suggest the true scale of consumer fraud in Ireland substantially exceeds what official statistics capture.

Ireland’s Reported Payment Fraud Hit €160M, Up 24.5% in 2024

The Central Bank’s research found that 35% of Irish adults have experienced fraud, with online-purchase scams the most prevalent form, affecting 48% of victims. Debit and credit card fraud followed at 34%, with delivery service impersonation at 15% and phishing and email scams at 13%, according to the survey. The regulator singled out investment fraud for particular concern: though it affected just 7% of respondents, investment fraud victims typically suffer losses far exceeding those recorded in other categories.

Official payment fraud statistics from the Central Bank put total reported losses at €160 million in 2024, a 24.5% increase on the prior year. Given the 38% non-reporting rate the same research identifies, actual consumer losses are almost certainly higher.

EU AMLA Supervision Arrives as Irish Fraud Data Gaps Widen

The research lands at a moment of intensifying regulatory pressure across Ireland and the EU. The Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), established under Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 and operational as of July 2025, now coordinates national AML supervisors across member states, with technical standards covering customer due diligence, risk classification, and transaction monitoring being finalised through 2026. Separately, the Central Bank has announced a review of how investment funds in Ireland report suspicious transactions, signaling that enforcement expectations around fraud-related reporting are rising across the financial sector.

Against this backdrop, the gap between reported and actual fraud has direct compliance implications. Underreported fraud distorts the risk picture that regulators and institutions rely on to set monitoring thresholds and identify emerging attack vectors.

Fraud Victims Who Report Recovering Money 57% of the Time

The Central Bank’s own data illustrates the cost of non-reporting: 57% of fraud victims who reported incidents to their institution or authorities recovered their money, according to the research. For those who did not report, recovery rates approached zero. But the compliance problem runs deeper than victim inaction. When fraud goes unreported to financial institutions, those institutions lose the transaction-level signals needed to identify compromised accounts, update risk models, and flag repeat attack patterns. Fraud defenses built primarily on customer-initiated reports catch patterns only after losses have occurred, and only when victims choose to come forward.

Real-Time Identity Checks Catch Fraud Before Victims Report

Financial institutions operating in Ireland and across the EU need fraud detection that operates at the point of identity, not after transactions are authorized. This means integrating real-time document verification, biometric identity checks, and continuous AML screening into onboarding and high-risk transaction flows, flagging anomalies independently of whether a customer ever files a report.

Shufti’s fraud prevention and AML screening solutions support institutions across 240+ countries, enabling real-time identity verification and risk scoring without relying on downstream reporting triggers. Institutions looking to close the gap between fraud occurrence and detection can request a demo to assess how proactive verification fits within existing compliance infrastructure.