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Fraud is a “blight” on the nation that requires a “systemic” solution, warn UK industry figures, as new data reveals that scammers are still swindling millions of pounds out of UK consumers.
Criminals stole £1.17bn through fraud in 2024, in line with the previous year, said UK Finance, the financial services trade body, in its annual report published on Wednesday.
But as losses in authorised push payment (APP) fraud fell to £450mn in 2024 from £460mn in 2023 due to rising awareness and investment in technology, unauthorised losses jumped to £722mn from £709mn as criminals turned to new scams.
APP fraud is when victims are tricked into moving money into a fake account while unauthorised fraud is when someone makes a transaction using bank details or credit cards without the owner’s knowledge.
“Fraud in the UK still isn’t declining. Now is the time to recognise this blight as the systemic problem it is and address it with a systemic solution,” said Gadi Mazor, chief executive of digital identity and cyber security company BioCatch.
“Fraud causes severe harm to individuals, society and our economy as the stolen money goes to serious organised crime groups, both here and abroad,” added Ben Donaldson, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance.
The number of APP cases fell 20 per cent to under 186,000 in 2024 — the lowest figure since 2020. The most came from investment fraud, when a criminal convinces their victim to move their money to a fictitious fund or pay a fake investment. Despite a 24 per cent reduction in cases, losses grew by 34 per cent to £144mn from £108mn.
The number of unauthorised fraud cases rose 14 per cent to 3.13mn last year. One of the main reasons was an increase in remote purchase fraud, when criminals use stolen card details to make purchases on the internet or over the telephone.
Scammers use similar tactics to those in APP fraud to get consumers to reveal one-time passcodes, which are used to verify online transactions.
The Payment System Regulator introduced mandatory reimbursement for victims of APP fraud in October and 86 per cent of the money stolen was returned in the first three months of the enforcement of the rules.
Victims of unauthorised fraud, who are legally protected against losses, were fully refunded in more than 98 per cent of cases, according to UK Finance data.
UK Finance’s Donaldson called for the technology sector to “step up and fight” fraud as well as urging more collaboration between the public and private sectors.
“We need the technology and telecommunications sector to step up and actually fight the fraud originating on their platforms and networks,” he said.
