Fraudsters stole over £200 million in investment fraud as some use AI to promote sham schemes – would you be able to spot a scam?
Investment scams shot up by 40% since last year as AI makes it easier for fraudsters to target you. Here’s what you can do to protect yourself.
Around £221.5 million was stolen in investment fraud during 2025, as scammers target those trying to get investing.
Across all types of scams, Brits unknowingly handed over a whopping £1.3 billion to fraudsters in 2025, up 4% from 2024, trade body UK Finance found.
Investment fraud was the leading type of authorised push payment (APP) fraud, where criminals exploit online platforms to manipulate victims into authorising payments themselves, making up just under half of all losses of this type.
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The vast majority (66%) of all APP fraud, including investment fraud, begins online as scammers are more easily able to cast a wide net to attract victims with get rich quick schemes, UK Finance found.
Other types of APP fraud on the rise include purchase scams, where a victim pays in advance for goods that are never received, which accounted for 71% of all APP fraud. Losses in this category were up 20% to £118.1 million in 2025.
The amount stolen through romance fraud, where victims are persuaded to make a payment to a person they have never met but believe they are in a relationship with, was up 22% in 2025, totalling £39.2 million.
Ruth Ray, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance, said: “Fraud operates on an industrial scale, harming people, businesses and the UK economy, typically funding serious and organised crime in the UK and globally.
“The financial sector invests huge amounts in protecting customers, but we cannot be the only line of defence. Almost £1.3 billion was stolen again last year and it is clear we are not tackling the underlying problem effectively enough.
Ray called for online tech platforms to have “stronger, enforceable responsibilities” to urgently stop criminals profiting from fraud.
AI is making investment scams easier than ever
The rise of AI-generated images and videos has made fraud easier than ever for scammers, as many imitate famous figures in finance to feign credibility. Last year, MoneyWeek found fraudsters using the likeness of investor Steven Bartlett to lure unsuspecting victims.
Since then, similar scams that use the likeness of Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, and Blackrock CEO Larry Fink, and others have been found.
A survey of fraud-management and financial crime prevention experts showed that AI is making fraud more difficult to deal with.
Around 84% of respondents to the survey by BioCatch, said AI has increased the sophistication of fraud and scam schemes as deepfakes are becoming increasingly difficult to spot.
Jonathan Frost, director of global advisory for EMEA at BioCatch said: “Agentic AI is making fraud faster, more scalable, and harder to detect. Criminals will inevitably use AI, potentially leading to exponential growth in fraud.”
How to protect yourself from fraud
With fraud on the rise, there are steps you can take to protect yourself. These include:
- Never give out your personal information to any organisation before you check they are legitimate. This includes your name, address, bank details, email, or phone number.
- Make sure your personal devices have up-to-date antivirus software so that any malware targeting you can be stopped before it does significant damage.
- Be conscious of phishing attempts where scammers send emails, texts, or phone calls pretending to be an organisation or individual that they are not. They often try to get you to give out your personal details or passwords. Common signs of a phishing message include grammatical errors, urgent language and suspicious-sounding email addresses or numbers.
If you think you have been a victim of fraud, contact your bank as soon as possible. You should also report the crime to Action Fraud.
To prevent yourself from becoming a victim, you should also remember the number 159 – a number you can dial if you get a suspecting call. It will direct you to your bank who can confirm if the caller is legitimate.
