An overwhelming 85% of adults in Ireland receive financial scam calls, text messages, or emails at least once a month, according to a report on fraud awareness published by FraudSMART, an initiative led by the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).

The research highlights a growing frequency of fraud attempts targeting consumers, with 51% of respondents reporting that they had encountered more suspicious communications over the past year. Mobile phone calls emerged as the most common channel for fraudulent contact, reported by 61% of respondents, followed by text messages at 58% and emails at 51%.

According to the survey findings, 10% of adults admitted to clicking on a link in a text or email before realizing the communication was suspicious. The primary red flag identified for fraudulent emails was an unknown sender (39%), followed by poorly written content (36%) and unexpected messages (32%). One in four respondents also expressed suspicion over communications that appeared computer-generated or driven by artificial intelligence.

Niamh Davenport, Head of Financial Crime at the BPFI, stated that fraudsters are using social engineering tactics to build trust and deceive individuals into transferring money or sharing confidential personal and financial credentials.

The report outlined various defensive actions taken by consumers to counter unsolicited contact. Of those who received suspicious mobile phone calls, 55% ignored them and 62% blocked the originating number. For suspicious text messages, 65% of targeted individuals reported blocking the sender.