Seemingly plausible clips featuring Irish or international figures – typically with a financial background – talking about a new investment opportunity. Garda figures show a 21 per cent increase in investment fraud in the last three months and the sums of money are significant. Investment scams totalled €31 million last year and the average loss in recent months has been €30,000 to €40,000, with some losing significantly more. While it may be like a game of “Whack-a Mole”, online platforms need to be pushed to do more to police this activity. The advice to those browsing investment options online is that if something seems too good to be true, then it almost certainly is.