Two thirds of such authorised fraud cases now start online, leading industry body UK Finance to demand tougher rules and financial contributions from the tech and telecoms sectors.
Here, we explain the latest fraud trends and the steps you can take to stay safe.
Card fraud crisis
The amount stolen through unauthorised fraud – where money is taken from your account without your consent – fell by 5% last year, but the number of cases rose by 11%.
How to protect yourself:Find out moreBank transfer scams soar
Scams which manipulate victims to send money via bank transfer can be particularly devastating, as large sums are often lost, and victims frequently experience guilt and self-blame.
Last year saw a sharp 19% increase in this type of fraud, which reached £576.4. There were 248,070 cases, with the average loss per case amounting to more than £2,300.
Victims of such fraud are now legally entitled to be refunded by their bank or provider (up to a maximum of £85,000) under most circumstances. Losses above that amount, and those made to overseas accounts, are exempt.
UK Finance says 89% of eligible losses were reimbursed between October 2024 (when the law came into effect) and December 2025.
How to protect yourself:Find out more:Investment and romance scams
Losses can also be especially large and life-changing when it comes to investment and romance fraud. This is because victims are groomed to believe that by paying out their life savings, they will secure a better future, financially and/or with a romantic partner.
Therefore, it's particularly worrying to see case numbers surging for both; up 23% for investment fraud and 22% for romance fraud.
How to protect yourself:Find out more:Purchase fraud dominates
Purchase fraud, in which victims pay for non-existent goods or services, accounted for 71% of all cases, with losses up 20%. Tickets for flights, gigs and sporting events are frequent targets, as are clothes, electronics and vehicles sold on online marketplaces.
How to protect yourself:Find out more:How scammers are using AI
The report makes clear that AI tools are changing the face of fraud, making it more polished and harder to detect: 'Organised criminal networks run compounds staffed by trafficking victims and use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to hone, personalise, and automate cross-border attacks. Increasingly, these attacks target human behaviour to bypass bank controls.'
It adds that criminals use AI to 'scale and refine attacks, crafting convincing impersonation scams and deploying deepfakes during account openings.' And it warns that agentic AI (which can perform complex sequences of automated tasks on a human's behalf) 'is likely the next force multiplier for global criminals'.
How to protect yourself:Find out more:Calls for tougher action on fraud
In its report, UK Finance demands tough action against the tech and telecoms sectors and points out that most authorised fraud originates on their platforms and services.
Among its calls to regulator Ofcom are stronger measures against 'high-risk' social media platforms to prevent investment fraud, and seller verification and mandatory secure payment methods for users of online marketplaces.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/fraudsters-stole-almost-1.3bn-from-us-in-2025-what-to-know-about-the-uks-most-common-crime-a2wOr1F5NUJu