According to data released by trade body UK Finance, fraud losses amounted to £1.17 billion last year, despite marking a 4% drop from 2022.
The data reveals that losses due to unauthorised transactions across payment cards, remote banking, and cheques were £708.7m, reflecting a 3% decrease compared to the previous year. The number of recorded unauthorised transaction cases stood at 2.7 million, down by 2%.
Authorised push payment (APP) fraud, a significant concern, also saw a reduction in losses, dropping by 5% to £459.7m. This total included £376.4m lost by individuals and £83.3m by businesses.
However, the number of APP fraud cases rose sharply by 12% to 232,429. The increase in cases was largely driven by a surge in purchase scams, where individuals are deceived into paying for goods that are never delivered.
These scams accounted for 67% of the total APP cases, with incidents rising by 34% to over 156,000, and the amount lost escalating by 28% to £85.9 million, marking the highest loss and case totals ever recorded.
Romance scams, another prevalent type of fraud, also reached record levels. Losses from these scams increased by 17% to £36.5 million, with the number of cases rising by 14%.
In contrast, there was a notable decrease in the number of fraud cases where criminals impersonate bank or police officials to persuade victims to transfer money to a “safe account.” Such cases fell by 37%, and the associated losses dropped by 28%.
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Efforts to reimburse victims have seen some success, with £287.3 million of APP losses returned in 2023, accounting for 62% of the total loss, an improvement from 59% in 2022.
“The money stolen funds serious organised crime and victims often suffer emotional damage as fraud is a pernicious and manipulative crime,” said Ben Donaldson, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance.
“The financial services industry remains at the forefront of efforts to protect customers, prevent fraud and support those who fall victim. With reimbursement rules set to change we risk even more money getting into criminal hands, unless the technology and telecommunication sectors take proper action to stop the fraud that proliferates on their platforms and networks.”
