Over £1.2 billion was stolen by criminals through authorised and unauthorised fraud in 2022. Put another way, that’s over £2,300 every minute, according to the trade body UK Finance.
That total is in fact a reduction of eight per cent on 2021; and the number of fraud cases across the UK was down four per cent to almost three million cases. Within that total figure, unauthorised fraud losses across payment cards, remote banking and cheques reached £726.9m in 2022, a decrease of less than one per cent compared to 2021.
Remote purchase fraud, where a criminal uses stolen card details to buy something online, over the phone or through mail order, remains the biggest category of losses at £395.7m – although this figure was again down on the previous year. Fraud on lost and stolen cards increased by 30 per cent to £100.2m and card ID theft, where a criminal opens or takes over a card account in someone else’s name, almost doubled to £51.7m. Victims of unauthorised fraud cases such as these are legally protected against losses.
Authorised fraud
Authorised push payment (APP) fraud losses reached £485.2m, down 17 per cent compared to 2021. Within this, 57 per cent of all reported cases related to purchase fraud, with case volumes breaking 100,000 for the first time. Investment fraud continued to be one of the largest proportion of APP losses (24 per cent), although there was a 34 per cent reduction compared with 2021. Overall, the amount of APP fraud losses reimbursed increased by five per cent in 2022 compared to the previous year. UK Finance and its members have called for far greater cross-sector action to tackle the problem at source – notably, online platforms and telecoms.
Most, 78 per cent of APP fraud cases originated online – these tend to include lower-value fraud such as purchase fraud and therefore account for 36 per cent of losses. Social media platforms account for the greatest number of online fraud cases – around three quarters of online fraud starts on social media. Meanwhile, 18 per cent of fraud cases originate via telecommunications – these are usually higher value cases, such as impersonation fraud, and account for 44 per cent of losses.
Comments
David Postings, Chief Executive at UK Finance, said: “Fraud has a devastating impact on victims and over £1.2 billion was stolen by criminals last year. The banking and finance sector is at the forefront of efforts to tackle this criminal activity. The sector spends billions on detection and prevention and also refunds people who have fallen victim, even if the fraud originated outside the banking system.
“Our data also makes clear just how much fraud emanates from online platforms and through telecommunications. The government’s new fraud strategy rightly says we need to focus on stopping it at source and that these other sectors need to do far more to tackle the problem they are facilitating.”
You can download the report from the UK Finance website, at https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/policy-and-guidance/reports-and-publications/annual-fraud-report-2023.
Steve Bradford, Senior Vice President EMEA at SailPoint, an identity security cloud platform, said: “The UK has been labelled the fraud capital of the world, with thousands being lost every minute to this.
“With fraudsters increasingly using tactics that are far more personal and harder to spot, we need to re-evaluate our cyber defence mechanisms. Fraudsters could use fake retailer websites that mimic real ones, or engage in phishing on social media accounts, posing as a customer service agent. Deception can happen through numerous tactics, so consumers need to be cognisant of the multitude of weapons in the cybercriminal’s arsenal.
“Using a credit card for purchases adds a degree of protection for recuperating lost funds, but it doesn’t stop cybercrime in its tracks. With unauthorised fraud losses across payment cards, remote banking and cheques reaching £726.9m in 2022, shoppers need to think of their digital identity as of comparative importance to their in-person one – you wouldn’t hand over sensitive information to a stranger, so the same ethos should be applied online.
“Looking over any interaction online, particularly when entering card details, with a sceptical eye is vital to help safeguard data. Measures may take up more time, but they’ll shore up defences against potential scams. Setting up multi-factor authentication, using complex passwords and identity verification checks all help combat cybercriminals when they seek to gain account access.”
