UK Fraud Losses Reach £1.3 Billion as Investment Scams Surge 40%

Fraudsters stole £1.28 billion (US$1.7 billion) from UK banking customers in 2025, a 4% increase from the previous year, with investment scams recording the sharpest rise, according to UK Finance's latest Annual Fraud Report.

Authorised push payment (APP) fraud—where victims are manipulated into transferring money themselves—continued to drive losses. Total APP fraud reached £576.4 million, up 19% year-on-year, across 248,070 cases.

Investment fraud remained the costliest APP scam category, with losses jumping 40% to £221.5 million, while reported cases rose 26% to 14,893. Purchase scams remained the most common fraud type, accounting for 71% of all APP cases, with losses increasing 20% to £118.1 million. Romance scams also continued to rise, with losses climbing 23% to £39.2 million.

The report found that 66% of APP fraud cases originated online, including social media and digital platforms, while 17% began through telecommunications channels, such as phone calls and text messages. Together, these channels accounted for around 60% of all APP losses.

UK Finance warned that criminals are increasingly using online advertising, fake investment promotions and sophisticated social engineering tactics to manipulate victims into authorising payments themselves. The industry is urging the government to place stronger legal obligations on technology and telecommunications companies, including tougher controls on fraudulent advertisements, mandatory seller verification on online marketplaces and greater financial contributions towards fraud prevention.

While banks prevented £1.68 billion in unauthorised fraud and reimbursed £354.3 million to APP fraud victims during 2025, UK Finance said reimbursement alone cannot tackle organised fraud, arguing that stronger cooperation between financial institutions, technology companies and telecom providers is needed to disrupt scams before victims transfer their money.