Large drop in reports of fraud and scam cases, CSO figures show

There has been a large drop in cases of frauds and scams reported to gardaí, with the number of offences reported down by more than a quarter, according to new crime statistics.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show there had been a 27 per cent drop in the number of reported frauds and scams in the 12 months up to the start of October, compared to the same period last year.

The quarterly crime statistics show while reports of burglaries are also down, cases of robberies and thefts have increased.

The CSO figures, published on Wednesday, detail a 16 per cent increase in thefts reported to the Garda, driven by a rise in shoplifting. Some 42 per cent of the more than 72,000 reports of thefts were related to goods stolen from shops.

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The number of reports of kidnapping in the 12 months up to the fourth quarter of this year fell by 15 per cent to 143. While the figures show cases of homicide and related offences fell from 73 in 2020 to 64 this year.

Cases related to sexual offences fell by 5 per cent to 3,498 cases in the 12 months up to October. Crimes involving attempts to murder, assaults and harassment fell by 6 per cent, according to the CSO statistics.

Reports of scams and frauds reached a high point in the 12 months up to the fourth quarter of last year, at 14,639 cases. The CSO said the figures for the same period this year saw a drop in reports to 10,629.

“This was due mostly to a fall in incidents of unauthorised transactions and attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone,” the statistics body said.

The CSO figures said the number of women who were victims of assault fell across nearly all age groups, with a 17 per cent drop in women victims between 18 and 29 years of age.

Crimes related to controlled drugs remained at largely the same level, with 17,449 cases in the 12 months to the final quarter of this year. There were 22,148 crimes involving damage to property or the environment, 2,669 recorded cases of weapons of explosive offences. There were 9,117 reports of burglaries, a large drop on 16,553 burglary cases recorded by gardaí in the same period up to the fourth quarter of 2019.

The CSO has recently lifted the health warning it previously attached to Garda crime statistics due to accuracy concerns. The State body said it had lifted the “under reservation” designation that had been placed on crime figures, as the Garda had introduced a number of reforms that resulted in the “sustained improvement in the quality of the underlying crime data”.

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