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September 26, 2025
Discover where and how we are most vulnerable to fraud.
According to the UK’s annual fraud report, 2024 recorded the highest number of cases since 2020 and now accounts for more than 40% of crime.
The most common type of fraud last year was remote purchases — where scammers use stolen card details to make unauthorised purchases on the internet, over the phone or through mail order.
One reason for an increase in this type of fraud, UK Finance suggested, was scammers socially engineering people’s one-time passcodes to access their funds.
Lee Hopley, the director of economic insight and research at UK Finance, said: “I nearly fell victim to one, my phone provider phoned me saying my contract was up, which it was. The guy said he can get me a 30 per cent discount on a SIM-only deal, which sounded great.
“He said, ‘I’m just going to send you a one-time passcode to verify who you are’. I provided half the one-time passcode and then stopped. Even for someone who is living and breathing [fraud analysis], you can see how easy it is.”
Of authorised fraud transactions — when an account holder sends money to a fraudster posing as a genuine payee — 70 per cent occurred online, 16 per cent over the phone and 1 per cent via email.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) runs a scam ad alert system, which works to detect fraudulent advertising on websites and social media.
From the 1,691 reports received last year, the watchdog identified key trends including: the use of celebrities’ images; deepfake videos — including one of the King endorsing cryptocurrency; ads for heavily discounted travel packages; and big-brand sales for products such as Smeg kettles or iPhones for under £2.
Despite fraud cases increasing, convictions of perpetrators stalled at below 4,000 last year.
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