Fraudulent emails and text messages tricking people to share personal and banking details increased during the Covid-19 crisis, according to gardaí.
They have also issued a warning to 'staycationers' who are being targetted by cyber criminals on fake and cloned websites purporting to sell holiday equipment.
The bogus websites advertise caravans, campervans and small pleasure boat sales in a bid to defraud people. These websites ask potential purchasers to send a deposit in advance of a sale but the purchaser never receives what they have paid for.
Detective Chief Superintendent Patrick Lordan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau said: "The criminal gangs behind these scams are very organised. "At the moment we are seeing quite a