The Northern Ireland Fraud Forum has announced it will host a masterclass to combat Northern Ireland’s growing online fraud epidemic. Funded by the Asset Recovery Community Scheme and taking place at The Merchant Hotel on 26 March, the event aims to support law enforcement, regulators, financial institutions, cyber specialists, and policymakers to confront the reality of increasing levels of online fraud.
Between April 2024 and March 2025, Advice NI’s debt service advised 53 individuals who had fallen into debt due to fraud with the combined total owed £565,427. Whilst this data provides an insight into the serious impacts of fraud, experts say most fraud goes unreported with victims often feeling too embarrassed to report it, unsure how to go about it, or sceptical about the outcomes.
Across England and Wales, fraud now accounts for roughly 40 per cent of all crime experienced by individuals. Data from the National Crime Agency confirms that identity fraud remains the most prevalent and pernicious threat nationally, with account takeover, synthetic identity creation, and sophisticated social engineering tactics, driving record volume. Findings from the UK Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 show that a substantial proportion of businesses also report cyber incidents each year, many of which containing a fraud element.
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The Chair of the NI Fraud Forum, Bill McCluggage, explained that fraud is no longer a peripheral crime and that Northern Ireland needs to act quickly to determine its response.
He said, “Online fraud is not a distant or abstract threat. It is organised, adaptive, brutal and accelerating. Fraud is the crime most people in Northern Ireland are now statistically most likely to experience in their lifetime. It’s especially concerning how quickly the threat is evolving. Criminals are now deploying AI-powered tools to craft convincing phishing messages, clone voices, generate fake identities, and automate scams at scale. The technology that should be driving innovation and growth is being weaponised to deceive and exploit.
“Fraud demands a coordinated response from government, law enforcement, businesses, and the public alike, to ensure we are increasing awareness to support prevention, but also accurately measuring the scale of the problem. Our event is a first step in bringing the necessary partners together to sharpen prevention, improve reporting pathways, strengthen data transparency, and build resilience across our public, private and third sectors.”
Sinead Campbell, Head of Money, Debt and Quality at Advice NI, explains that scammers are leveraging AI tools to exploit and deceive even the most-savvy of people.
She said, “Generative AI is incredibly clever, but incredibly dangerous when used by fraudsters. This technology takes existing content and learns patterns from it to create new content that can mirror the style, structure, or characteristics of a person’s texts, emails or voice. AI presents huge risk, and with debt on the rise in Northern Ireland as a result of the high cost of living, we need to ensure that more people don’t fall victim to scammers and the subsequent hardship they cause.”
Advice NI’s Interim Chief Executive, Fiona Magee, urges people affected by scammers to exercise caution and seek support.
She says, “Always ask someone you trust if you are second guessing the legitimacy of a text, a call, a social media message or an online store. If you have been scammed, it’s important to report it to the PSNI to help stop the same thing happening to someone else. These scams are designed to be hard to spot, making anyone vulnerable, so we all need to be vigilant. Raising awareness about the sophistication of these scams is crucial – it’s the only way we can prevent more people falling victim to scammers and worrying levels of debt.”
Advice NI’s free and confidential Money and Debt Service is funded by the Department for Communities and since 2019 it has dealt with 25,894 clients with £301m in debt. The service is free, confidential and impartial. Visit adviceni.net or call 0800 915 4604 to speak confidentially with an expert advisor.
For further information and to register to attend the NI Fraud Forum’s event, visit www.nifraudforum.co.uk.
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