UK Finance Annual Fraud Report 2025

UK Finance’s latest figures show that Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, has fallen by two percent to just over £450 million 2024 with case volumes also falling by 20% - the lowest figures for cases and losses since 2021. However, other types of fraud, have increased with the most significant area of growth across all fraud categories being remote purchase fraud.

The Report attributes the falling total loss amounts and case volumes to ongoing major investment in fraud protections by the financial services industry. It emphasises the importance of collaboration with law enforcement, tech companies, telecoms firms, and relevant regulators (namely Ofcom and the PSR). The Report has highlighted the importance of the collective approach taken, notably Scams Signal (real-time signals from mobile networks), cross-sector fraud enablement data publication and the UK Finance’s involvement in shaping the Online Safety Act rules. This collective approach aims to mitigate live scam attacks and strengthen fraud prevention.

Mandatory reimbursement for APP fraud came into effect on 7 October 2024. By 2024 year-end, 8% of eligible APP scam losses were returned to victims. While it is unclear what impact the new reimbursement rules have had on fraud activity, some signs indicate fraudsters are pivoting to international payments instead.

The Report suggest that the focus remains on proactive prevention via multi-layered defences across financial services, technology, telecoms and the public sector. UK Finance stresses that “action beats reaction 100% of the time”. Prevention of fraud has included substantial industry investment in early detection, improving customer education (namely Take Five campaign), and real-time data sharing to stop scams before funds are transferred.

Fraudsters now target greater numbers of victims to maintain illicit income as industry defences improve. In addition, fraudsters appear to be adapting tactics with a notable pivot to remote purchase fraud. On a more positive note, public awareness may have influenced reduced number of romance and impersonation fraud cases.

The Report confirms that total losses from unauthorised transactions increased by 2% to £722 million, with a 14% increase in the total number of cases to 3.13 million. The Report suggests that approximately £1.45 billion in unauthorised transaction fraud was prevented.

The Report confirms that 70% of APP cases were enabled online, with most of them being purchase scams. Investment scams accounted for a third of APP fraud. Despite this, there has been significant progress in reducing fraud losses due to investment in fraud prevention technology, educational campaigns and awareness of new reimbursement rules.

The Report confirms that £154.2 million of card fraud occurred abroad. 75% of e-commerce card-not-present fraud occurred at merchants acquired outside the UK. The UK is seen as a global bellwether for digital fraud trends.

The Report emphases that while AI is playing a growing role in fraud prevention there is potential for it to perpetrate fraud. The Report refers to Agentic AI as an emerging threat which could see criminals automate and scale fraud. In response, behavioural anomaly detection and real-time intelligence sharing are becoming pivotal in combating these evolving fraud tactics.

The Report has emphasised the importance of the split liability component of the Mandatory Reimbursement rules incentivising continuous innovation in fraud prevention and detection across the financial services sector. Firms are expected to maintain continuous adaptability via real-time data sharing, cross-sector collaboration and rapid response to emerging fraud trends.