Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance, Pearse Doherty TD, has said that action must be taken to tackle investment scams and financial fraud.

This comes as FraudSMART warns of the worrying rise in investment scams being carried out by fraudsters.

Teachta Doherty said:

“Financial fraud and scams are on the rise, with citizens being robbed of millions of euros by fraudsters.

“The latest warning by FraudSMART and the Banking and Payments Federation regarding a rise in highly convincing investment scams is another wake up call for action.

“These investment scams using brochures circulated online are targeting over-55s with a minimum investment of €20,000 – these transactions are theft, pure and simple.

“These scams are being advertised online, on social media and by email.

“We need to ask when online platforms and social media companies will take responsibility for the fraudulent content that is being advertised on their platforms and robbing citizens of thousands of euro.

“There is no requirement for online platforms and social media companies to pay compensation to victims of fraud – that needs to change.

“There is also no requirement for payment service providers to pay compensation to victims of authorised push payment fraud.

“And we have no system to cross-check the name of the person victims send their money to against the name on the actual account.

“This is called Confirmation of Payee and has been introduced successfully in Britain and the Netherlands to reduce fraud.

“These are actions that can be introduced to protect potential victims of scams and fraud.

“It is time to give this issue the attention it deserves.”