Incidents of fraud down 41% but theft on the rise – CSO

Muireann Duffy

Crime involving fraud, deception and related offences has fallen 41 per cent, mainly on account of a large decrease in online banking and phone scams.

The latest crime statistics, covering the year to Q1 2023, have been released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Over that period, 10,366 cases of fraud, deception and related offences were recorded, while theft and related offences noted the largest annual increase, up 36 per cent to 69,340 incidents.

Homicide and related offences – which includes murder, manslaughter, infanticide, manslaughter for traffic fatalities, and dangerous driving causing death – showed the second-largest increase, up 28 per cent, followed by robbery, extortion and hijacking offences which were up 20 per cent.

Attempts or threats to murder, assault, harassment and related offences noted an 8 per cent annual decrease, with the number of male victims falling by the same percentage, while the level of female victims fell by 7 per cent.

The 9,246 incidents of burglary and related offences represented a 55 per cent decline on the year ending Q1 2019.

The CSO found reported crime incidents for five of th 14 categories increased in each of the country's four regions (Dublin Metropolitan, North Western, Eastern and Southern) in the year to Q1 2023, most significantly theft, homicide and robbery crimes.