In 2024, the UK faced a significant financial threat as fraudsters stole £1.17 billion through various fraudulent activities, according to UK Finance’s Annual Fraud Report. There were 3.13 million confirmed cases of unauthorised fraud reported in 2024 (up 14 per cent compared to 2023) and losses totalled £722 million in 2024 (up two per cent).
A major contributor to this surge was remote purchase fraud, which saw a 22% rise in cases, totaling nearly 2.6 million incidents. This type of fraud involves criminals using stolen card details to make purchases online, over the phone, or via mail order. Losses from remote purchase fraud increased by 11% to just under £400 million.
UK Finance highlighted that fraudsters are employing social engineering tactics to obtain one-time passcodes (OTPs) from victims, enabling unauthorized transactions and the registration of compromised card details for digital wallets.
While authorized push payment (APP) fraud losses decreased by 2% to £450.7 million, investment fraud within this category rose significantly. Losses from investment fraud increased by 34% to £144.4 million, despite a 24% reduction in case numbers. This indicates that fraudsters are focusing on fewer, higher-value scams.
The number of APP fraud cases fell by 20 per cent to under 186,000. This is the lowest figure since 2020 and was driven by a range of factors, including investing in technology that can help identify and flag potentially fraudulent activity, to educating and raising awareness among consumers.
Conversely, purchase scams, where victims pay in advance for goods or services that are never delivered, remained the most common type of APP fraud. Losses from purchase scams increased by 1% to £87.1 million, although case numbers fell by 16%.
The biggest amount of APP losses came from investment fraud, which occurs when a criminal convinces their victim to move their money to a fictitious fund or to pay for a fake investment. £144.4 million was stolen through this type of fraud in 2024, an increase of 34 per cent from 2023, despite a 24 per cent reduction in cases.
The financial services industry prevented £1.45 billion of unauthorized fraud in 2024, a 16% increase from the previous year. This equates to stopping 67p in every £1 of attempted unauthorized fraud. Advanced security systems and increased consumer awareness contributed to this achievement.
Victims of unauthorized fraud are legally protected against losses, with more than 98% receiving full refunds. For APP fraud, the implementation of mandatory reimbursement rules led to the return of 86% of stolen funds in the initial three months.
The number of fraud cases where criminals impersonate a bank or the police and convince someone to transfer money to a “safe account” fell again in 2024, with losses and case numbers dropping 16 per cent and 32 per cent respectively.
There was a notable increase in international payments that were made as part of APP fraud, with criminals likely trying to get people to send money outside of the UK. International payments accounted for 11 per cent of APP losses in 2024, up from 6 per cent in 2023.
Ben Donaldson, Managing Director of Economic Crime at UK Finance, emphasized the need for a collaborative approach to combat fraud:
“Fraud continues to blight this country, with over £1 billion stolen by criminals in 2024. This causes severe harm to individuals, society, and our economy as the stolen money goes to serious organized crime groups, both here and abroad.
“To deal with this threat, we need a more proactive approach with the public and private sectors working more closely together and using data and intelligence more effectively. We also need the technology and telecommunication sectors to step up and actually fight the fraud originating on their platforms and networks.”
Consumer watchdogs and industry leaders are urging social media, search engines, and telecom services to implement stronger prevention measures, as these platforms are often exploited by fraudsters to reach potential victims.
The UK remains a global hotspot for scams due to its fast payment systems, minimal enforcement, and widespread use of the English language. Research indicates that nearly 43% of fraud victims may choose not to report incidents, obscuring the true scale of the problem.
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