Over Two-Fifths Of Irish Adults Report Greater Volume Of Scam Communications This Year Than Last

More than three quarters (78%) of Irish adults are being targeted with scam text messages, emails, phone calls or online content at least monthly according to the latest research undertaken by FraudSMART, the fraud awareness initiative led by the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).

The research was undertaken as part of a major new FraudSMART awareness campaign See the Scam behind the Screen, supported by Google, to highlight the uptick in and dangers of social engineering tactics which now underpin the majority of frauds and scams and are increasingly being used by criminals to groom or manipulate victims into transferring money or divulging personal and financial details.

Key findings from the latest research show:

• 78% of Irish adults are being targeted with scam text messages, emails, phone calls or online content at least monthly.
• The prevalence of scam communications are on the rise with some 45% of consumers saying they are being targeted with more suspicious activity than the same time last year.
• The main channel for scam communications was via mobile phone (58% encountered scam text messages and 52% scam calls on mobile). Almost half (48%) encountered scam emails.
• Just over half of mobile phone users are taking important scam prevention measures including blocking suspicious numbers (58%) and ignoring unsolicited phone calls or messages/calls from unrecognised numbers (55% and 53% respectively).
• However, when asked about clicking on links in text messages, social media or instant messenger only 53% reported proactively never clicking on such links.
• Concerningly less than one third of consumers are taking basic online security precautions when online:
  • Only 32% saying they check for the ‘https’ at the beginning of a web address
  • Just 27% said they use secured internet rather than public wi-fi
  • Only 27% said they checked there is a padlock image at the beginning of the web address on the checkout page when making a purchase online
  • Just 26% visit a website of a company as opposed to clicking through to the website via links on social media or pop-up adverts

Barrage of scams continuously levelled at consumer

Speaking on the publication of today’s research and the launch of the new FraudSMART/Google campaign, Niamh Davenport, Head of Financial Crime, BPFI said: “With our latest research clearly demonstrating the high frequency and increasing volumes with which consumers are being targeted with various types of scam communications, it is also evident that there is still a distance to travel in ensuring we are all fully alert to and taking the key preventative steps necessary in order to protect ourselves from the barrage of scams being continuously levelled at us via texts messages, emails and social media.

“One of the common threads running through all these scams and frauds is what is known a social engineering, which is the focus of our latest FraudSMART awareness campaign which we have launched today with Google, and which encompasses a major advertising and information drive to encourage consumers to pause and question what is really going on behind the screen when you receive a suspicious text or social media message, phone call or email.”

Rapid growth of AI technology has potential to supercharge financial fraud and social engineering

Ms Davenport continued: “Social engineering tactics are now used across practically all sophisticated fraud and scams, enabling criminals to groom and manipulate people into transferring money or divulging personal or financial details. These types of deception tactics see fraudsters using phishing emails, fake offers or impersonation posing as someone from a genuine organisation such as your bank, utility or delivery company or even a government department.  The scams play on human emotions such as trust, fear or sympathy tricking the victim into believing they are communicating with a legitimate source. Added to this we now have the rapid growth of generative AI technology which has the potential to supercharge financial fraud and social engineering through the creation of different types of convincing content.”

Simple steps consumers can take to prevent themselves falling victim to these deception tactics

“Despite the increasing sophistication and complexity of these tactics however, the key message we want to communicate today is that there are number of essential and simple steps which consumers can confidently take to protect themselves from falling victim:

• Think Before You Click – pause before engaging with unexpected messages, emails or offers.
• Verify, Don’t Trust – always independently check websites, senders, and requests. Use Scamchecker.ie
• Protect you Financial Information – never share banking security codes, full PINs, or passwords and remember your bank will never ask for them
• Block & Report – stop repeat scams by blocking and reporting fraud attempts.
• Stay One Step Ahead – knowledge is power. Sign up for real-time scam alerts through FraudSMART.ie

Also speaking on the launch of today’s campaign Ryan Meade, Google, said: “Online scams can impact anyone and scammers will try to target people through multiple methods, online and offline. Google has a long history of developing tools and techniques to combat scams and scammers, such as blocking 99.9% of spam and malware on Gmail. Alongside these efforts, public education plays a crucial role in empowering people to protect themselves from scams. Google is proud to support this campaign as part of our ongoing collaboration across industry sectors.”