Online fraudsters netted €53 million from scams last year

Online fraudsters are using increasingly sophisticated techniques to con people out of their money, with the total amount lost growing by 20% last year to €53 million. The national fraud hotline Fraudehelpdesk said it had received 63,469 reports of fraudulent activity last year, up by 10% since 2023, including 9,146 cases in which the victim had lost money. The agency warned that criminals were looking up people’s public data before contacting them so they could appear more plausible. In recent...