40% rise in fraudulent payments in Ireland
There was a 40% rise in the volume of fraudulent payments last year compared to 2023, according to the Central Bank’s Payment Fraud Statistics for 2024.
The figures show the total value of fraudulent payments in Ireland increased to €160 million in 2024 – up nearly 25% from the previous year.
The growth is predominantly driven by fraudulent e-money transactions and money remittances, by both value and volume of payments.
From 2023 to 2024 fraud among e-money payments jumped from €3.3m to €25.6m.
Fraudulent money remittances more than doubled from €8.2m to €20.4m.
Card payment fraud was up slightly but credit transfers, direct debit and cheque fraud all declined.
Online payments accounted for more than three quarters of all payment fraud during the period.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Banking and Payments Federation Ireland’s Head of Financial Crime Niamh Davenport said there is a shared responsibility on individuals and institutions to prevent fraud.
“Banks are introducing more measures, for example, you would have seen over the last number of week the new name checking tools which have come in under SEPA verification so it matches the name on a payment transferred to the name on an account,” said Ms Davenport.
“There’s lots of continued transaction monitoring, but because fraudsters are targeting consumers directly and convincing them to make the payments rather than hacking into bank systems, individuals also must play a key part in it,” she added.
“Never click on links in unsolicited communications, text, emails, only use websites and trusted retailers that you’ve used before, and if somebody asks you to use your account or to move money to a safe account, just say no and really think about what you’re doing before you do anything,” she advised.
BPFI’s own FraudSmart research shows that one in five regular online shoppers lost money through scams last year, some losing hundreds and thousands of euro.
“The message here is that payments are safe, the systems themselves are secure, but what we need to be careful is where and who we shop with online, so before you buy make sure you take that extra time to check any unfamiliar websites, be careful what social media ads you click on and use,” explained Ms Davenport.
“There’s a tool called scamchecker.ie use that tool, it’s a FraudSmart tool that instantly will tell you if the website that you’re on is risky or you should take some extra care,” she said.
Ms Davenport said Ireland is the “European average” when it comes to scam payments, but the trend is rising across Europe as criminals become more co-ordinated across borders.
She warned that payments can now move instantly across as well meaning scams hit multiple countries at the same time.
“What’s positive is that Ireland is making strides on collaboration, we are one of the few that actually have this cross-sector collaboration, if not the only,” she said.
“Through other measures like the shared fraud database, the cross-sector Anti Fraud-Forum, it really is putting us at the forefront and making us come together and actually look at proactive ways where we can stop the fraud from happening in the first place,” said Ms Davenport.
