More than €28 million was stolen in 2023 after members of the public put money into non-existent schemes, The Irish Times reports.

Since January 2020, in excess of €75m has reportedly been stolen through investment fraud.

“Sophisticated criminals” are taking advantage of the high cost of living by, for example, cloning web pages and targeting victims through adverts, some of which promise “once in a lifetime opportunities” through large financial returns.

Incidents have been reported by some 1,117 people since January 2020, with 44 per cent of those concerning cryptocurrencies.

Most victims are men and more than half are over 40.

One man invested €45,000 on an app and was recently told he had more than €727,000 in an Ethereum virtual wallet. He cannot access it, however, and was told that he would have to pay €36,000 in Dirt tax to do so.

“Sadly, those who become victims are ordinary, decent people that are having huge amounts of their life savings stolen from them be it their inheritance or a retirement lump sum,” said Det Supt Michael Cryan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.

He added: “Investment fraud can easily happen and no one is to be judged – we really encourage anyone who has been a victim in the past or who has more recently become a victim of investment fraud to please come forward and speak with us in any Garda station.”