Fraud cases jump as fraudsters evolve at an unprecedented speed

The UK Finance Annual Fraud Report published today highlights that the total number of fraud cases jumped 12% to over 3.3 million in 2024, while the value of fraud losses remained relatively stable at £1.17bn.

Encouragingly, the industry prevented £1.45bn in unauthorised fraud, equivalent to 67p in every £1 attempted, demonstrating the effectiveness of layered defences and collaborative intelligence sharing. However, remote purchase fraud cases surged by 22% to almost 2.6 million, with losses up 11% to £399.6m compared with 2023.

Erin Sims, financial services senior analyst at RSM UK, said: “Fraudsters are targeting more victims with increasingly sophisticated tactics. The rise in remote purchase fraud and the evolving nature of authorised push payment scams signal that criminals are adapting rapidly and leveraging scalable, low-cost tools to automate social engineering, mimic identities and exploit vulnerabilities at an unprecedented speed. To mitigate these threats, firms must invest not only in advanced technology but also in sustained customer education to build resilience across all touchpoints. Moreover, this reinforces the need for a joined-up approach across the entire ecosystem, where financial institutions, tech platforms, telecoms providers and regulators work in unison to disrupt fraud at its source.”