AIB reports huge increase in fraudulent investment site activity this year

AIB is warning customers to exercise extreme caution as new data highlights a significant increase in fraudulent investment advertisements and scam-related websites circulating online.

There was a dramatic escalation in site takedowns, where the bank intervenes to request a fraudulent domain be removed, between January and May 2026, with 1,500 times the instances of takedowns compared with all of 2025.

AIB said this highlights the "rapid growth of this threat in 2026", as criminals increasingly exploit online and social media platforms to target consumers.

AIB says advertisements often impersonate legitimate companies, media outlets, or individuals and politicians to build trust and encourage people to invest in opportunities that don’t exist.

Head of Fraud Intelligence at AIB, Harold Perez said: ”We are seeing a huge increase in fake online advertisements promoting investment scams. Criminals are using sophisticated tactics, including social media advertising and cloned websites on legitimate search engines, to create increasingly convincing but entirely fraudulent opportunities.

"The scale of growth this year is particularly stark and demonstrates how quickly criminals are adapting their tactics, as we’ve intervened to have thousands of websites taken down.

"We would strongly encourage customers to take time to verify any investment opportunity and seek independent advice before transferring funds - if an investment opportunity seems too good to be true, it likely is.

"Customers often only realise they have been targeted by a scam when they attempt to withdraw funds and encounter delays, excuses, or are unable to access their supposed investment at all. Always Wait a Sec and Double Check.