Over the last 18 months, financial institutions have reported an overwhelming surge in suspected online frauds.

This increase means that there are now tens of thousands of cases that remain unprocessed.

CEO of Cyber Risk International Paul Dwyer told The Anton Savage Show that investment scams are particularly popular in Ireland.

“They’re plugging in here to the, if you like, the greed or the FOMO that people are getting when they feel, ‘Oh, I didn’t get into cryptocurrency’,” he said.

“People are starting to research this topic, and they’ll see maybe some influencers who are saying which cryptocurrency to go for.

“What will happen is that we’ve seen that these influencers’ websites themselves have been hacked.

“They put up false comments on those to influence people to go for a particular scam or personal scheme that’s being offered around cryptocurrency.”

A man surrounded by computer monitors. Image: YAY Media AS / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr Dwyer said many of these groups will often groom people over long periods of time rather than looking for an immediate response.

“These are intelligent people that will fall for these things, often business people, that will be convinced – because they’ll have done what they consider their own research,” he said.

“They’ll come across a third-party website that says, ‘Oh yes, this is a great investment and look at the returns I’ve got’ - but that’s actually fake information.

“These criminals are well-organised, they’re well-funded, and they’re able to spend weeks, months and even years on some scams to build up that ecosystem.”

Smart home devices

According to Mr Dwyer, consumers should avoid purchasing smart devices for their homes, as they can compromise entire home networks.

“The other big, big area here where people are becoming vulnerable is what we call IoT – Internet of Things devices,” he said.

“These are devices that you buy that internet enables you bring them home.

“You can’t trust your kettle, your weighing scales, anything – because these devices have little to no security built into them.

“They generally use the same username and password, and if they’re on your home network, and they’re compromised, then that ‘bad guy’ is on your home network, and they can see everything else on your network.”

Mr O’Dwyer warned that there are scams targeted to almost every type of person online, and that no one should assume they are above falling for these tactics.

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