Criminals stole more than £570 million through fraud in the first half of 2024, as per the latest figures released by UK Finance. Despite an overall decrease of 1.5% compared to the same period in 2023, losses from unauthorised fraud saw an increase. However, losses due to individuals being deceived into transferring money dropped during this time.
In the first half of 2024, losses related to unauthorised transactions across payment cards, remote banking, and cheques reached £358 million, marking a 5% increase. The total number of recorded fraud cases exceeded 1.5 million, showing a significant 19% surge. UK Finance highlighted that the rise in payment card fraud losses was mainly due to the increase in “card not present” cases.
The report indicated that criminals have been employing social engineering tactics to dupe victims into revealing one-time passcodes for online transaction authentication. On the other hand, authorised push payment (APP) fraud losses, where individuals are misled into transferring money, totalled £213.7 million, which was down by 11% compared to the previous year.
Of the APP fraud losses, £166.5 million pertained to personal losses, while £47.2 million was attributed to business losses. The total number of APP cases decreased by 16% to 97,344 cases. Various types of scams like purchase scams, romance scams, investment scams, and impersonation scams saw a decline during this period.
According to UK Finance, 72% of APP fraud cases originated from online sources, underscoring the need to bolster online security measures. Notably, £126.7 million of the APP losses were returned to victims, representing 59% of the total loss. New reimbursement regulations implemented by the Payment Systems Regulator mandate reimbursement for APP scams since October 7.
Ben Donaldson, UK Finance’s managing director of economic crime, emphasised the importance of preventing fraud in addition to reimbursing victims. While highlighting the significance of reimbursement in combating fraud, Donaldson stressed that it alone cannot mitigate the psychological impact on victims or deter organised crime activities.
Nicola Bannister, TSB’s customer support director, urged collaboration across sectors to curb scam activities. She expressed satisfaction with the enhanced fraud refund protection for UK households but stressed the necessity for concerted efforts from other sectors to root out scam content. Jim Winters, head of economic crime at Nationwide Building Society, echoed the call for collaboration with big tech, social media, telecoms, government, and law enforcement to tackle fraud at its source.
The financial services industry continues to focus on prevention measures to safeguard individuals against fraudulent activities. The ongoing fight against fraud calls for a multi-faceted approach involving robust prevention strategies and collaborative efforts to combat scams effectively.