If you haven’t been affected by or at least seen evidence of these scams this year, you’re in the minority.
There has been a large increase in cases of reported fraud in the year to June, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Its latest figures show that the number of crime incidents recorded on An Garda Síochána’s PULSE database which were classified as fraud offences increased by more than 40% in the year to June 2021 compared to the previous year.
“The increase has occurred mostly in Q1 and Q2 of 2021 and primarily relates to fraudulent attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone as well as fraudulent use of credit and debit card information,” CSO statistician Sam Scriven said.
Meanwhile, over the same period, burglaries were down by 37%, theft was down by 22% and robbery was down by 21%.
There was also a 9% decrease in assaults and a 6% and 10% drop in criminal damage and public order offences, respectively.
“Users should note when considering crime trends the varying Covid-19 restrictions in place for much of 2020 and 2021 and the likely impact of such restrictions on levels of crime,” Scriven added.
A total of 3,778 offences were recorded on PULSE for breaches of Covid-19 regulations in quarter two of 2021, a marked decrease on the 10,438 such offences recorded during the previous quarter.
This was following the introduction of a new system of fines in respect of breaches of Covid-19 regulations in December 2020.
Scriven noted that the reduction reflects the general easing of restrictions during Q2 relative to Q1.
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