Donegal and Cork join the capital in the national top three as new county-by-county ranking reveals where people are most likely to be caught out by a spoof.
With April Fools’ Day just around the corner a new nationwide analysis by Casino.org Ireland has revealed which counties are most likely to be caught out by pranks, spoofs and spam.
The analysis, compiled by the data analysts at Casino.org Ireland, ranked all 26 counties using a bespoke April Fools Gullibility Score designed to identify the parts of the country most likely to fall for something that looks convincing at first glance.
The ranking puts Dublin top of the national table with a perfect score of 100.0, making it Ireland’s most gullible county.
For context, the national county average is 43.0, meaning Dublin scores 2.3 times above the Irish baseline heading into April Fools’ Day.
Donegal ranks second on 85.6, while Cork places third on 79.2.
Limerick and Louth complete the top five, while Wicklow records the lowest score in the country at 0.0, making it Ireland’s least gullible county.
Ireland’s most gullible counties:
- Dublin 100.0
- Donegal 85.6
- Cork 79.2
- Limerick 69.3
- Louth 59.4
- Tipperary 59.0
- Wexford 58.6
- Kerry 55.7
- Waterford 53.4
- Galway 49.2
“April Fools’ Day is supposed to be a laugh, but let’s be honest, some counties are clearly more likely than others to look at a dodgy message, a fake win or a spoof text and think, ‘go on so, maybe that is real,’” said JJ Lee, spokesperson for Casino.org Ireland.
“This ranking is a light-hearted look at the parts of Ireland that may be most likely to take the bait, whether that is a prize that sounds too good to be true, a message that looks vaguely official, or something that would have more suspicious people raising an eyebrow straight away.
“Dublin topping the list will definitely get a few people talking, but the bigger point is that getting caught out is not always about intelligence. Sometimes it is about how convincing something looks, how quickly people react, and how used they are to dealing with this kind of thing online.
“April 1 is the one day of the year when people expect to be fooled, so it felt like the perfect time to reveal the counties most likely to be caught on the hop. Some places might take it as a badge of honour. Others might see it as a sign to double-check that next text before clicking anything.”
DATA
Casino.org Ireland’s data analysts created a weighted April Fools Gullibility Index using official county-level Census 2022 data from the CSO to model which parts of Ireland may be most likely to be caught out by a fake win, spoof message or scam-style text. The ranking factored in county age profile, levels of people living alone, internet access, working-from-home rates, education patterns, volunteering and population size to estimate where people may be more exposed to spoof-style messages and more likely to be caught out by something that looks convincing at first glance. Adjustments were made to ensure the table did not simply reflect Ireland’s oldest counties. It is intended as a light-hearted proxy model, not a direct measure of scam victims.