https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorials/2026/05/06/the-irish-times-view-on-money-laundering-tackle-the-root-cause/
The near tripling in money laundering cases reported to the Garda last year is a matter of obvious concern. It is also a simple function of the almost exponential increase in online fraud and related crime over recent years.
According to the Central Bank, the number of payment fraud incidents reported to it by financial institutions in 2024 was up 40 per cent on the previous year to 815,000. More than three quarters of the frauds were online.
If an online fraudster is successful in parting a victim from their money, the next challenge is to launder the proceeds. One of the highest profile gangs operating here, Black Axe, specialise in convincing people to let them use their bank accounts to clean the proceeds of their crimes.
There is a significant discrepancy between the Central Bank figures and the number of cases reported to the Garda for investigation last year, which was 2,768, up from 996 the previous year.
The difference is due to the process by which online fraud is investigated. The primary responsibility to report online fraud rests with the financial institutions, who must only flag suspicious transactions that constitute money laundering.
These reports are reviewed by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), operated by the Garda with input from the Revenue Commissioners, which then passes on information to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) and other law-enforcement agencies, both here and abroad. It deals with around 60,000 suspicious transaction reports each year.
The argument for further resources for the FIU and the GNECB to combat online fraud and money laundering is easily made and must be weighed against the other demands on the Garda. But the clear mismatch between the volume of online fraud and the limit to the resources the State can deploy makes it clear that the solution lies in another direction. It is part of the much wider multi-front contest between sovereign states and the technology companies whose platforms are used to carry out these frauds.
