UK Fraud Losses Surpass £1.1 Billion in 2024: What the Latest Report Reveals

The UK Finance Annual Fraud Report 2025 delivers a sobering message: fraud remains a persistent and evolving threat, with over £1.17 billion lost to fraud in 2024 alone. AJC recognises that this report is a call to action for financial institutions, businesses, and consumers across the UK.

Total Fraud Landscape: The Numbers Behind the Threat

The UK experienced 3.31 million fraud cases in 2024, a 12% increase from 2023, underlining fraud’s evolution into a national security and economic issue (UK Finance, 2025).

The breakdown is as follows:

• Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud resulted in £450.7 million in losses, down slightly on 2023, with case volume dropping by 20%, a possible reflection of greater public awareness and investment by the industry in tackling these scams.
• Unauthorised fraud, including payment card and remote banking scams, accounted for the remaining losses, especially remote purchase fraud, which saw a substantial increase of 22% in cases, driven by the compromise of one time passwords used to register digital wallets .

These trends show fraudsters are adapting to a more digitally fluent population, turning to more sophisticated deception and exploiting online behaviours.

APP Fraud: A Persistent Threat Despite Lower Case Volume

APP fraud, where victims are tricked into willingly transferring money to scammers, saw a 2% reduction in total losses yet remains alarmingly high at nearly half a billion pounds (UK Finance, 2025). Notably:

• Investment scams led to £144.4 million in losses, a 34% increase year-on-year, despite a drop in reported cases. This shows criminals are focussing on more lucrative targets.
• Purchase scams, while more common, saw more moderate financial losses per case, but criminals are shifting towards advertising higher value goods such as cars and holiday homes

This rise in high-value fraud reflects how scammers are now targeting emotional and financial vulnerabilities, including cost-of-living concerns and crypto investment hype.  As an example, the rise and fall of investment scams almost exactly mirrors the fortunes of the crypto market.

Sector Response and Reimbursement: Progress and Gaps

In October 2024, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) introduced a mandatory reimbursement policy for APP fraud victims. As a result, 86% of APP losses were reimbursed by the end of the year, a marked improvement in consumer protection (Financial Times, 2025).

However, fraud still disproportionately impacts small businesses that may not have robust internal protocols or awareness campaigns in place. At AJC, we see an opportunity for organisations to take the lead in fraud prevention, not just a reactive response.

AJC’s Take: What This Means for Our Clients

This year’s fraud report offers several key lessons:

• Fraud Must Be Treated as a Business Risk
  Organisations, regardless of size, need to elevate fraud from a compliance issue to a core part of their risk management strategy. This includes risk assessments, employee training, and real-time fraud detection.  Many companies are looking at bringing their fraud and cyber departments together.
• Threat Actors Are Becoming More Targeted
  Fraudsters now use AI-generated content, spoofed branding, and psychological manipulation. Employee impersonation and invoice fraud are increasingly prevalent in B2B contexts, where payments are larger and vetting may be weaker.
• Compliance is Not Enough. Proactive Monitoring is Crucial
  AJC encourages the use of behavioural analytics, device fingerprinting, and multi-layered authentication to identify anomalies before a transaction is finalised. Our team supports clients in deploying these solutions in a compliant yet agile manner.
• Education is Your Best Firewall
  The fraud reduction seen in APP cases reflects the power of public awareness. Regular, scenario-based training for staff and clients can make the difference between early detection and disaster.

Final Thoughts

The UK Finance Annual Fraud Report 2025 lays bare the scale and complexity of fraud in the UK. While reimbursement rules have provided some relief for victims, the figures indicate a persistent, growing problem, especially as fraudsters refine their tactics and embrace technological sophistication.

AJC urges all UK businesses, particularly those in finance, retail, and e-commerce, to reassess their fraud strategies now. Prevention is always more cost-effective than recovery.

If you need support building a fraud prevention roadmap tailored to your organisation’s needs, reach out to our consultants at AJC. Together, we can turn the tide against the fraud threat.

Contact us on 020 7101 4861 or email us at info@ajollyconsulting.co.uk if you think we can help.

References

1. UK Finance. (2025). Annual Fraud Report 2025. Retrieved from: https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/policy-and-guidance/reports-and-publications/annual-fraud-report-2025
2. Financial Times. (2025, May 27). UK fraud ‘blight’ prompts calls for action to protect consumers. Retrieved from: https://www.ft.com/content/c877784c-f416-4c7b-943b-dfb35a01233c 
3. Reuters. (2025, May 27). Britain sees 12% spike in fraud cases as banks battle £1.17 billion epidemic. Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/britain-sees-12-spike-fraud-cases-banks-battle-16-billion-epidemic-2025-05-27/ 
4. The Guardian. (2025, May 28). ‘Remote purchase’ fraud in the UK surges as customers tricked into disclosing passcodes. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/may/28/remote-purchase-fraud-uk-surges-customers-tricked-passcodes

Image accreditation: Getty Images from Unsplash.com+. Last accessed on 5th June 2025. Available here.