More than £600 million has reportedly been stolen by fraudsters in first half of 2025. UK Finance releases its half year fraud report, detailing the amount its members reported as stolen through payment fraud and scams in the first half of 2025. Criminals stole £629.3 million in the first half of the year, which is a three per cent increase on the same period during the last year.
UK Finance further noted that there were reportedly more than 2.09 million confirmed cases of fraud, which represents a sizable 17 per cent increase on this time last year. Banks in the United Kingdom have reportedly prevented £870 million of unauthorised fraud through advanced security systems, “20 per cent more than in the first half of 2024 and equivalent to 70p in every £1 attempted.”
The majority or 66 per cent of APP fraud cases began online and “17 per cent started through telecommunications networks.” The financial services sector continues to be at the forefront of ongoing efforts to conbat fraudsters and ensure adequate consumer protection. UK Finance is now calling on the government’s upcoming Fraud Strategy in order to “ensure all sectors are accountable in preventing fraud. ”
Ben Donaldson, MD at Economic Crime at UK Finance, said fraud continues to be a threat to society and the economy, and criminals continue to adapt ways “to steal victims’ money and funnel significant sums of money to criminal enterprises, impacting society greatly.”
Despite the ongoing investment and prevention measure taken by the industry, the majority of fraudulent activities actually comes from outside the formal banking system, “online and over the phone, where manipulation begins long before any payment is made.”
The scale of the threat is said to be not commensurate with the present level of government investment in “countering it or the insufficient action by other sectors.” The UK government must prioritise prevention and hold the social media and telecommunications industries to account in its Fraud Strategy.
Losses from unauthorised transactions across payment cards, remote banking and cheques were “£372 million in the first half of this year, a decrease of three per cent from the same period in 2024.” The total number of recorded cases was just “over 1.98 million, representing a 19 per cent increase.”
Within these figures they saw some notable movements year on year:
Cheque fraud losses “were down 41 per cent.”
Remote banking fraud losses were down nearly a quarter (minus 24 per cent).
The number of card not present fraud cases, which “occurs when a criminal uses stolen card details, increased by 22 per cent.”
Banks are reporting ongoing challenges with criminals “tricking victims into handing over one-time passcodes, which then allows criminals to register digital wallets and make fraudulent payments.”
Banking institutions reportedly prevented £870 million of unauthorised fraud during the first half of 2025, a considerable 20 per cent more than a year ago. Victims of unauthorised fraud cases such as these are “legally protected against losses and UK Finance research indicates that customers are fully refunded in more than 98 per cent of these fraud cases.”
As stated in the update from UK Finance, authorised push payment (APP) fraud losses were “£257.5 million in the first half of 2025, a 12 per cent increase on the same time last year. APP cases fell by eight per cent to 110,747.”
As with unauthorised fraud, within these figures they reportedly saw some significant movements year on year.
The primary reason cited for the rise of APP losses was investment scams, when a criminal or malicious actor manages to convince their victim to move funds into a “fictitious fund or to pay for a fake investment.”
UK Finance noted in a blog post that £97.7 million has now been stolen via this type of fraud, which represents a significant 55 per cent increase on the same time last year. Investment fraud cases often involve “larger amounts of money and it can take longer for individuals to recognise the scam.” This means some of the losses reported “will relate to cases that started in previous years.”