The UK is beleaguered by fraud – and the problem shows no signs of abating, as criminals exploit our vulnerabilities.
In its Annual Fraud Report 2022 UK Finance, which represents the banking and finance industry, called for greater cross-sector action to tackle the issue as fraudsters become increasingly skilled at adapting their methods to suit changes in consumer lifestyles and behaviour.
A key concern is the rise of impersonation scams and authorised push payment (APP) fraud, when a payer is deceived or defrauded into authorising a payment to a criminal. UK Finance members reported 195,996 incidents of APP scams in 2021 with gross losses of £583.2m, compared with £420.7m in 2020. Of the total, £505.8m related to personal losses and £77.4m affected non-personal or business transactions.