Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)

I want to raise the issue of the increase in scams. Research conducted by FraudSMART shows that 78% of Irish adults are being targeted by scam text messages, emails, calls or online content at least monthly. I know of a woman who used an online portal for a job application only to realise it was a fraudulent website when it asked for her debit card details. We often joke about the early days of scam emails, when an individual posing as a prince or a millionaire would offer millions of euro if someone inputted their details. These were primitive and often it was clear they were fake but scams have become more convincing and sophisticated. They come in the form of text messages from Amazon, An Post, eFlow, customs and banks contacting people. Some of these messages are particularly targeted at parents or the elderly.

One scam that has been going around recently is where a person receives a text saying, "Hi mum, I lost my phone. Can you send me some money?" Many people have fallen victim to this as it is a realistic message to receive. I know one person who fell victim to it and was conned out of €1,500. The payment was traced back to a bank in Longford but it could not be recovered. People are being scammed out of their hard-earned cash and these are not rare or isolated incidents. They happen every day.

I was caught out by copycat websites, with one pretending to be the RSA with regard to paying for a driver licence, a hotel in Dublin and the Canadian Government with regard to an ETA. These companies mimic legitimate businesses to deceive people. Under Irish law this passing off is not treated as criminal. The RSA, banks and other organisations and agencies know this is happening but cannot do anything to prevent it. There is a serious gap in our legal framework. ComReg and the Government must do more. This means tighter oversight of telecoms and payment systems, criminalising passing off and giving customers real-time warnings and better recovery tools.