UK Finance has released its Annual Fraud Report in partnership with Feedzai showcasing that financial fraud losses in the UK throughout 2022 exceeded GBP 1.2 billion.
The Annual Fraud Report details the money amount reported by UK Finance members as stolen by criminals through financial fraud, with more than GBP 1.2 billion having been stolen through authorised and unauthorised fraud, equivalent to over GBP 2,300 every minute. This amount sees an 8% decrease from 2021, with the number of fraud cases across the UK having gone down 4% to approximately three million cases.
Within this figure, unauthorised fraud losses across payment cards, remote banking, and cheques amounted to GBP 726.9 million in 2022, a decrease of less than 1% when compared to 2021. The biggest loss category was remote purchase fraud, where criminals leverage stolen card details to purchase online, over the phone, or through mail order, equating to GBP 395.7 million, yet a decrease from 2021.
Fraud on lost and stolen cards saw a 30% increase to GBP 100.2 million, whereas Card ID theft, where criminals open or take over a card account in someone else’s name, saw an almost twofold increase to GBP 51.7 million. Victims of unauthorised fraud cases like this are legally protected against losses.
Authorised fraud
Within the UK, billions of pounds are spent by the banking and finance industry on a yearly basis towards fighting fraud and economic crime. Despite this, most fraud originates outside the banking sector, and UK Finance conducted an analysis of more than 59,000 APP fraud cases to showcase fraud sources.
The findings highlight 78% of APP fraud cases to have originated online, with them including lower-value fraud of the likes of purchase fraud and therefore accounting for 36% of losses. The highest number of online fraud cases are those on social media platforms, with approximately ¾ of online fraud starting on social media. Concurrently, 18% of fraud cases originated through telecommunications, predominantly higher-value cases like impersonation fraud, having accounted for 44% of losses.
David Postings, Chief Executive at UK Finance advised that the data showcases the increased fraud to emanate from online platforms and via telecommunications, adding that the government’s most recent fraud strategy rightly requests a focus on ending it at the source and of these other sectors to do more in tackling the issue they facilitate.
Daniel Holmes - Fraud Prevention SME – Feedzai added that the risks remain high as fraudsters adapt and leverage increasingly sophisticated tactics and tech to mislead consumers, and the report helps highlight how important it is for banks to keep focusing on combining anti-fraud tech with an approach that has consumer education at its core. The spokesperson further stated that a broad effort coalition is needed from beyond financial services to tackle fraud, with the combination believed to provide the best chance for stopping fraud at the source and minimising the impact on consumers.
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