Data and tech company, Experian, and fraud prevention service, Cifas, released a report which reveals a 9% rise in identity fraud, signaling the scale of fraud facing UK based firms as the festive season approaches.
‘Unwrapping fraud: helping you to prepare for the festive season’ brings together expertise and research findings from two of the UK’s fraud prevention organisations and reveals the growing “trends in the fraud space during the upcoming peak shopping period.”
UK households spend more than £3,000 in December, “nearly a third more (29%) than in a typical month, as people celebrate Christmas.”
It highlights the tactics criminals are deploying “to exploit people and their information, and steps businesses can take to protect themselves and customers from threats.”
The report reveals:
- Identity fraud – when someone’s personal information is used without their consent to apply for financial products, such as credit cards and loans – has risen by 9.2% in the last three years according to new Experian analysis, with synthetic fraud/AI generated identities now making up 42% of all cases
- Over the last three years, card fraud rates spike in November and December, indicating higher levels of fraud taking place in the festive period.
- Potentially fraudulent savings account openings rose by 53% over the same period, according to Experian, with much of it driven by AI generated identities as criminals use the account to house stolen or laundered money
- Cifas members recorded more than 217,000 fraudulent cases to the National Fraud Database in the first six months of 2025, its highest ever recorded figure. It is estimated that identity fraud costs the UK economy £1.8 billion a year
The rise in fraud is being fuelled by advances in AI technology, which allow criminals to rapidly generate synthetic identities using a mix of real and fake information.
This makes it easier to launch large-scale attacks on businesses and produce convincing fake documents, such as passports, making fraudulent applications harder to detect. Previous Experian research has found that more than a third of UK businesses have been targeted by AI-related fraud in the first three months of 2025.
The report also identifies the fraud threats which are becoming increasingly prominent and what both businesses and consumers should be aware of and how they can protect themselves.
The ‘eight frauds of Christmas’ includes:
- AI scams
- Identity fraud
- Account takeover
- Misuse of facility
- Investment scams
- Sim-swap fraud
- Social media scam
- Employee-targeted scams
Looking at Account Takeover (ATO) – or Facility Takeover – fraud, which is when a criminal uses an individual’s personal information “to access the victim’s bank account or financial product,” Cifas reveals a “sharp rise in the number of cases recorded to the National Fraud Database.”
Cifas members reported over “74,000 cases of ATO fraud in 2024 (up 76% when compared to 2023), while figures for the first six months of 2025 have already reached more than 38,000 cases.”
The level of ATO shows how critical it is for people “to keep their personal information as secure as possible.”
Notably, misuse of facility – where a genuine account holder uses a financial product for a fraudulent purpose – is now the “second highest type of case recorded on the National Fraud Database, indicating how accounts are increasingly used for money mulling activity or house laundered funds.”
As covered, Experian is a data and tech company, powering opportunities for people and businesses around the world.
They help to redefine lending practices, “uncover and prevent fraud, simplify healthcare, deliver digital marketing solutions, and gain deeper insights into the automotive market.”
They help people with realising their financial goals and “help them to save time and money.”
They currently operate across a range of markets, from financial services to healthcare, “automotive, agrifinance, insurance, and many more industry segments.”
They invest in talented professionals and various technologies in order to unlock the power of data and to make advancements.
A FTSE 100 Index company listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN), they have “a team of 25,100 people across 32 countries.”
Their corporate headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland.
As noted in the update, Cifas is the UK’s not-for-profit fraud prevention service “with nearly 800 members from across key economic sectors including banking, retail, insurance, and telecoms.”
Cifas now aims to protect businesses as well as unsuspecting individuals from fraud via the “sharing of data and intelligence sharing between the private, public and third sectors.”
In addition to offering products and services – which have reportedly helped businesses prevent more than “£2.1 billion in fraud losses in 2024 – Cifas delivers specialist training via its Cifas Fraud and Cyber Academy and Digital Learning program.”