Is there an “acceptable” number of people who can fall victim to scams and fraud online for the greater good of foreign direct investment into Ireland? One Government department seems to believe there is.
With the European Union updating regulations governing financial payments, officials at the Department of Finance have urged it to bring in tougher rules to crack down on online scams.
It said social media platforms – such as Facebook, Instagram, X, Google and TikTok – should be required to vet those posting advertisements promoting financial investment products on and other platforms, in an effort to cut off scams defrauding people.
It comes as a slew of reports say investment fraud is becoming a serious problem, with gardaí saying there has been a 21 per cent rise in cases in the three months to October.
The Irish banking sector’s fraud awareness initiative, Fraud Smart, recently advised consumers, especially those over the age of 50, to be on alert for what it described as highly convincing investment scams, promising guaranteed and profitable returns. AI has only made such scams even harder to spot.
However, officials in Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke’s department took issue with Finance’s efforts to clamp down on such crime, warning that the suggested changes would be bad for business and potentially conflict with the Republic’s position as a destination of choice for many Big Tech players in Europe.
Emails released under Freedom of Information show Department of Enterprise officials said they had a “major issue” with the Finance proposal.
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Noting now-departed minister for finance Paschal Donohoe’s acknowledgment of the important role the technology sector plays in the economy, especially the jobs and investment created by large, foreign-owned technology firms, it said the suggested reforms would hurt Ireland’s economic competitiveness.
“I have serious concerns about the current proposal,” one high-ranking civil servant wrote.
The clear inference from the exchanges is that Enterprise finds it acceptable that some people will be taken in by such scams for the greater good of the economy. What the Enterprise officials failed to clarify was how many such victims it considers a reasonable number – or how significant their losses should be – before the State should consider asking social media platforms to up their game.
