Bank of Ireland has warned consumers about a new wave of purchase scams luring unsuspecting shoppers through online ads to make payments for goods and services that subsequently turn out to be fake.

In the past year, there has been a 32 per cent increase in purchase scams reported to Bank of Ireland.

From relatively low-value items such as clothes and trainers, through to holiday home deposits and even cars, consumers are often lured by the false promise of a slashed price or a bargain.

They are asked to pay directly by sending money from their bank account to another account via bank transfer, a method that provides little protection.

Once the payment is transferred, the seller usually cuts all contact, and the product or service never arrives.

“Fraudulent advertisements online and on social media have been the subject of regular warnings for some time,” said Bank of Ireland’s head of fraud Nicola Sadlier.

“This alarming trend is not going away, even with increased awareness among the general public, and repeated calls for websites and search engines to remove the adverts. These fake ads should be caught before they are published online, but many are not.”

She stressed that it