Criminals stole £1.28 billion through payment fraud in the UK in 2025, up 4 per cent from the previous year despite new reimbursement rules for scam victims, while investment fraud losses surged 40 per cent to a record £221.5 million, according to figures published by UK Finance on Monday.

The banking trade body said the number of reported fraud cases rose 11 per cent to more than 4 million last year, highlighting what it described as the industrial scale of financial crime. Unauthorised fraud losses fell 5 per cent to £703.4 million, but authorised push payment (APP) fraud, where victims are persuaded to transfer money themselves, increased sharply.

According to UK Finance, APP fraud losses climbed 19 per cent to £576.4 million, with investment scams generating the largest financial losses. Nearly 15,000 investment fraud cases were reported in 2025, with criminals promoting fake opportunities linked to assets including gold, cryptocurrencies, wine, property and carbon credits.

Ruth Ray, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance, said: “AI is making that easier because it allows you to make all of your communications more sophisticated. It allows you to spin up websites quickly and easily to make your business look legitimate when it may be otherwise.”

The industry body said criminals were using artificial intelligence to create more convincing scams and reach larger numbers of victims. Investment fraud case volumes increased 26 per cent to 14,893, while romance fraud losses rose 23 per cent to £39.2 million and purchase scam losses increased 20 per cent to £118.1 million.

Some 66 per cent of APP fraud cases originated online and a further 17 per cent began through telecommunications networks. The organisation renewed calls for tougher obligations on technology and telecoms companies, arguing that banks should not bear sole responsibility for preventing fraud.

Ray said: “Given most APP fraud still starts via online tech platforms or via telecoms, we urgently need stronger, enforceable responsibilities to be placed on these sectors.”

The Financial Times reported that the figures are likely to increase pressure on the government to require technology groups to do more to combat fraud on their platforms. The newspaper also reported that more than £200 million lost to authorised payment scams was returned to victims last year under reimbursement rules introduced in October 2024.

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