A man in the West of Ireland has been duped out of more than €1 million in a cryptocurrency investment fraud.
The Central Bank has issued a fresh warning about investing in cryptocurrency as officers in the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau investigate the case.
The Irish Examiner is reporting that the man was one of 234 people who made reports to Gardaí in 2021 about investment fraud – up from just 50 reports in 2019.
He lost the money in seven transactions carried out in a five-month period in mid to late 2021. The €1 million he lost is among €12.4 million stolen in cases reported to gardaí last year, according to Detective Superintendent Michael Cryan of the Garda National Economic Bureau.
He said: “In 2019 there was about €4 million reported stolen, €8 million in 2020 and about €12 million in 2021. That is a colossal jump.” He said that people wishing to invest in cryptocurrency can come across websites online which appear legitimate.
Some of them, however, are "completely bogus", while others are cloned copies of legitimate websites.
He continued: “If you go on to one of the fake sites and put in your details, very quickly you will get phone calls with very good salesmen who will be pushy, offering you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which you need to jump at now or you will lose out.”
