Online fraud the major growth area for crime in Galway Garda Division
WHILE most crime activities across Galway and the rest of the country were down last year, online fraud continues to be the major growth area for criminals according to the latest official figures.
The Garda provisional crime statistics for the year ending December 31 2025, show a major drop in physical robberies across all categories – but a huge increase in online fraudulent activity.
A senior Galway Garda figure told the Connacht Tribune this week that people needed to develop a 'zero-tolerance' approach in terms of providing any personal or banking data in response to texts, calls or online approaches.
Detective Superintendent Peter Conlon, said that in 2025, there had been a 73% increase in 'overall fraud' - due mainly to online, phone or text scams - while robberies from the person, residential burglaries and aggravated burglaries were down significantly.
"There are no ifs or buts about this - under no circumstances, should anyone reveal any details in relation to passwords, pin numbers or bank details, in response to calls, texts, or emails. This is by far and away, the growth area in terms of stealing money from individuals and businesses," said Det. Supt. Conlon.
He outlined that online fraud activity fell into three main areas of deception - vishing, involving fake phone calls; smishing, texts sent to extract personal information; and phishing, emails sent, often purporting to be from financial institutions.
"Given the worldwide nature of the internet, these criminals can be from Ireland or from any part of the world,” he said.
"Their aim is to deceive people into giving them personal information. Never give them any details; never click onto any link; and don't respond to emails purporting to come from financial institutions," warned Peter Conlon.
Fraud – driven by online scams – has grown massively over the past three years, but the biggest increase was last year, when this activity mushroomed by 73%.
Nationally, in 2025, robberies from establishment dropped by 23% and these decreases were mirrored in thefts from the person [-22%], interfering with vehicles [-15%], aggravated burglaries [-14%], criminal damage [-14%], residential burglaries [-16%], affrays, riots, violent disorders [-36%].
As well as the jump in online frauds, other crime areas where there were increases included arson [+20%], public order [+8%], rape and sexual offences [+4%] and demonstrations [+12%].
According to Detective Superintendent Conlon, another area of crime growth was in the use of 'money mules' - people who had legitimate bank accounts and who allowed them to be used by criminals and criminal gangs to launder cash.
"People need to be acutely aware that anyone involved in this kind of activity [allowing their accounts to be used by criminals] is a serious criminal offence which can result in imprisonment and a criminal record for the so-called money mules," said Det. Super. Conlon.
According to the National Crime Review for 2025, 74,000 people were arrested during the year [200 per day]; 134,000 criminal charges were created; 190,000 criminal summonses were issued; 6,200 adult cautions were issued; while there were 13,000 referrals to the Juvenile Diversion Programme.
The annual report specifically referred to the success of Operation Thor – the multi-strand approach to tackling burglaries with an emphasis on preventing the crime from happening in the first instance.
It has successfully reduced the rate of winter burglaries, leading to a significant decline in residential burglaries by 75% since its introduction in 2015
It also referenced Operation Táirge, which was introduced in December 2023 to target Organised Retail Crime.
Theft from shop reported a two per cent increase in 2025, which may be down to a higher level of reporting continues particularly in the Dublin Region during 2025 (up by 8%) and a smaller increase in the Eastern Region, with a 3% rise.