UK Fraud Losses Remain High at £1.17 Billion in 2024

Fraudsters siphoned off £1.17 billion from UK citizens in 2024, a figure largely consistent with the previous year, according to new data from UK Finance. While a modest decline was observed in authorised push payment (APP) fraud losses, a significant surge in remote purchase fraud offset this improvement, keeping overall theft figures stubbornly high.

Unauthorised fraud cases rose by 14% to 3.13 million, resulting in £722 million in losses, a 2% increase. A notable driver of this was remote purchase fraud, where criminals use stolen card details for online, phone, or mail-order purchases. This category saw a 22% jump in cases to nearly 2.6 million and an 11% rise in losses, reaching almost £400 million, reversing previous downward trends.

Conversely, some fraud types experienced a reprieve. Card ID theft cases and losses receded after a 2023 spike, and for the first time since 2020, contactless fraud losses saw a slight reduction of 1%. Remote banking losses also decreased by 7%, with cases falling by 17%.

APP fraud, despite its recent notoriety, experienced a 2% drop in losses to £450.7 million, alongside a 20% reduction in cases. However, investment fraud, a subset of APP fraud, emerged as a growing concern. Here, victims are duped into transferring money to fictitious funds or fake investments, leading to a substantial 34% increase in stolen funds, reaching £144.4 million, even with a 24% decrease in reported cases.

Ben Donaldson, MD of economic crime at UK Finance, stressed the need for enhanced collaboration between public and private sectors, emphasizing better data and intelligence utilization. He also called upon technology and telecommunications companies to take more proactive steps in combating fraud originating on their platforms.