Victims are often those looking to top up their finances ahead of retirement. Stock image: Getty
Older people and pensioners have been warned to stay vigilant after new figures showed a huge jump in fraudulent scams in the first half of last year, with over-55s targeted.
The industry group that represents banks found there had been a 26pc rise in attempted scams compared with the same period a year earlier, with victims conned out of a total of €8.6m.