Fraudsters steal £144 million in investment fraud – despite fall in cases

Victims lost millions more to investment fraud in 2024, despite the number of cases dropping.

Data shows that £144.4 million was stolen through this type of fraud in 2024, an increase of 34% from 2023 (£114.1 million), despite a 24% reduction in cases.

Investment fraud occurs when a criminal convinces their victim to move their money to a fictitious fund or to pay for a fake investment. For example, a fraudster may convince you of tremendous potential returns on your investment if you send them money.

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There is no limit on the type of investment that a scammer may entice their victim with. These scams could include investment in equities or commodities such as gold, property, cryptocurrencies or even wine.

Fraudsters stole £1.17 billion last year, according to new data from UK Finance – broadly the same amount as 2023.

There were 3.31 million confirmed cases of fraud reported – up 13% since 2023.

As MoneyWeek reported in April, there is a growing number of investment scams being amplified on social media through the use of AI ‘deepfaking’ – where scammers hijack the reputations of prominent figures.

Ben Donaldson, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance, calls fraud a “blight” on the UK, and says it “causes severe harm to individuals, society and our economy as the stolen money goes to serious organised crime groups, both here and abroad”.

Unauthorised fraud is on the rise in the UK

By far the most prevalent type of fraud in the UK was unauthorised fraud, where the account holders themselves do not provide authorisation for the payment to proceed and the transaction is carried out by a third-party.

Around 3.13 million Brits (up 14%) fell victim to unauthorised fraud last year and collectively lost around £722 million (up 2%).

Overall, the most common type of unauthorised fraud was card fraud, where a victim’s credit or debit card is stolen and then used to purchase items illegally. More than 3 million people in Britain fell victim to card fraud, being defrauded of more than £572 million, up 15% from last year.

One of the major reasons that unauthorised fraud is on the rise is because of a 22% increase in remote purchase fraud – which had been falling in previous years. This is where scammers take control of your bank account and make unauthorised transactions.

Common ways for scammers to successfully perform remote purchase fraud is through social engineering, where they try to get victims to divulge one-time passcodes and use them to authenticate fraudulent transactions.

There has been a decline in other types of unauthorised fraud. Card ID theft has fallen after a spike in 2023, with losses falling by 26% to £58.7 million and the number of cases dropping 23% to around 109,000.

The amount of contactless fraud is also falling, with losses decreasing by 1% – the first time a reduction has been reported since 2020.

Authorised fraud is on the decline

While unauthorised fraud is on the rise, there was a decline in the amount of Authorised Push Payment (APP) in 2024.

APP fraud is a method where fraudsters trick victims into sending them authorised payments, often via bank transfer, under a false pretense such as a fake invoice or romance scam.

Losses due to APP fraud dropped by 2% to £450.7 million, comprising £365.7 million of personal losses and £84.9 million of non-personal losses.

The number of cases of APP fraud also dropped by 20% to just under 186,000, much more than the decline in losses – this is the lowest level of APP fraud since 2020.

There are many reasons for this decline, according to UK Finance, including investment in technology that can help identify and flag potentially fraudulent activity as well as raising awareness of APP fraud among customers.

The most prominent type of APP fraud is a purchase scam where a victim pays in advance for goods or services that are never received. In 2024 the number of these scams fell by 16%, but losses increased by 1% to £87.1 million.

Furthermore, cases of APP fraud where criminals impersonate a bank or the police and convince someone to transfer money to a “safe account” fell by 32% and losses to this type of fraud fell by 16%.

How much fraud is being stopped by banks?

While fraud remains a persistent problem for banks, the amount of fraud being prevented by the industry has increased year-on-year.

UK Finance found £1.45 billion worth of unauthorised fraud was stopped by the financial services industry, marking a 16% increase compared to 2023. This is the equivalent of saving 67p in every £1 of attempted fraud.

There are also a number of legal protections against unauthorised fraud that lead to reimbursements, with 98% of unauthorised fraud cases leading to full refunds in 2024.

For APP fraud, it can be more difficult to claim reimbursement and UK Finance found around 59% of all money stolen through APP fraud was reimbursed to victims by banks in 2024.

How can you protect yourself from fraud?

With over £1 billion of consumer money being stolen by fraudsters, it is a good idea to make sure that you are protected.

The Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign is backed by UK Finance and advises consumers to take a step back and consider whether the transaction they are partaking in is legitimate.

Consumers should first stop and think whether they could be being scammed before parting with their money or information.

The campaign then tells consumers to challenge the transaction and ask whether it is fake, urging them to remember it is okay to reject, refuse, or ignore requests for cash.

Finally they advise consumers to contact their bank immediately if they think they’ve fallen for a scam and then report it.

How to report a financial scam

If you are unlucky enough to fall victim to a scam or you suspect that you are being targeted, you can report it to Action Fraud or call them on 0300 123 2040 anytime between Monday to Friday 8am and 8pm.

Action Fraud is the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, and is run by the City of London Police working alongside the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.

You should also immediately tell your bank about the scam using the Stop Scams UK website or by dialling 159. You can call them directly, or in case of risk or threat, be sure to dial 999.