Younger people are more likely to fall victim to financial fraud or scams than older people, new research shows.

Worryingly, three-quarters of people have experienced an attempted financial fraud, while more than a quarter (27%) have been victims.

People are more likely to experience fraud attempts seeking to take less than €500 rather than larger amounts, the research by Permanent TSB bank discovered. And contrary to popular perception, older people are less likely than younger people to fall victim to financial fraud.

The over-45 age group makes up 52% of the adult population but only accounts for 37% of victims, while the over-65s make up 18% of the population but just 11% of victims. Financial fraud is also more likely to be experienced by people living in Dublin than elsewhere.

Older people are twice as likely as young people to check their bank accounts every week to guard against fraudulent transactions, it was found.

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Permanent TSB's Leontia Fannin said: "There is a clear message in our research that financial fraud is a significant threat and that it is often being targeted at groups that may think they are less vulnerable.

"Awareness of financial fraud is strong but scams are getting more sophisticated and we need to continue to be on our guard."

Surprisingly, younger people living in Dublin appear more likely to be victims, according to behavioural scientist Claire Cogan.

"Our research shows a pattern to financial fraud that may surprise people," she said. "Reassuringly, we see people are responding to advice to be vigilant. Two-thirds say they would not trust an unsolicited call, text or email even if it came from a well-known brand, and over eight out of ten agree their bank would never send a text message asking them to click on a link."

The most common types of financial fraud are "vishing" (phone call/voice message), "smishing" (text message) and "phishing" (email).