Central Bank finds one in three defrauded
More than one in three adults in Ireland have experienced fraud or scams, according to research published by the Central Bank.
The nationally representative study of nearly 3,000 adults found that 35% had been targeted, with almost two-thirds of victims suffering financial losses.
The report highlights a significant gap between fraud experiences and reporting rates.
Despite the prevalence of scams, 38% of victims did not report the incident to their financial-service provider or any authority, raising concerns that the true scale of fraud is being underestimated.
Official figures show reported payment fraud in Ireland reached €160 million in 2024, marking a 24.5% increase on the previous year.
However, the Central Bank said the actual financial impact on consumers was likely to be higher due to underreporting.
Online-purchase scams were identified as the most common type of fraud, affecting 48% of victims. Debit- and credit-card fraud followed at 34%, while delivery service impersonation scams accounted for 15% and phishing or email scams for 13%.
Most financial losses were relatively small, with 39% of victims losing less than €249.
Higher losses
However, investment fraud, which affected 7% of respondents, resulted in significantly higher losses compared with other scam types.
The research found a strong link between reporting fraud and recovering funds.
Among those who reported incidents to their bank, An Garda Síochána, or another authority, 57% were able to recover their money.
In contrast, only 13% of those who did not report the fraud managed to recover losses.
Risky online behaviour emerged as the strongest predictor of fraud exposure, outweighing factors such as age, income, and education.
Behaviours linked to higher risk included:
- Purchasing from unfamiliar websites,
- Sharing financial details through insecure channels,
- Sending money to individuals met online,
- Responding to unsolicited offers,
- Failing to use multi-factor authentication and,
- Making frequent high-value online purchases.
The study also found that general financial knowledge did not reduce the likelihood of being defrauded.
Instead, “fraud literacy” was associated with lower risk of falling victim.