Over £500m stolen from bank customers in six months
Criminals stole a staggering £580m in the first half of 2023, according to the latest banking industry fraud report.
UK Finance, the finance trade body, has warned that many scams originate from social media and other online companies, and is calling on other sectors to 'do much more to help us deal with the criminality, which is increasingly taking place on their platforms'.
Read on to dig into the numbers and find out how to get your money back if you've been scammed.
Authorised push payment fraud on the rise
Industry figures show that while total fraud losses and cases fell in the first half of the year, authorised push payment (APP) fraud – also known as bank-transfer fraud – is an exception.
The number of APP fraud cases rose by 22% to 116,324 when compared to the same period in 2022, though losses remained stable, falling by 1% to £239.3m.
Breaking down these figures by payment method, there was a thumping 244% increase in APP fraud losses via intra-bank transfers (when money is moved between two accounts within the same financial institution) and a 49% increase in losses via CHAPS (for high-value transfers, such as paying a deposit on a house).
UK Finance said three-quarters of APP fraud cases started online, pointing to investment scams advertised on search engines and social media, romance scams via online dating platforms, and purchase scams promoted through social media and auction websites (which accounted for two-thirds of all APP fraud cases).
Which? has successfully led the campaign for social media companies and tech giants – such as Google and Meta – to do more to prevent fraud from appearing on their sites.
Under the Online Safety Bill, online platforms will be required to prevent and quickly remove harmful content. Communications regulator Ofcom will be responsible for ensuring compliance, and will have the powers to take enforcement action, including fines.
- Find out more: groundbreaking Online Safety Bill set to become law
Banking industry fraud figures
| Fraud type | Losses H1 2023 | Year-on-year change | Cases H1 2023 | Year-on-year change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payment cards | £258.9m | -4% | 1,241,326 | -9% |
| Remote banking | £78.9m | 0% | 18,308 | -29% |
| Cheque | £2.9m | -10% | 560 | 35% |
| Authorised push payment | £239.3m | -1% | 116,324 | 22% |
| TOTAL | £580m | -2% | 1,376,518 | -8% |
Source: UK Finance
Getting your money back
Overall, banks reimbursed £152.8m of APP losses in the first half of 2023 – equivalent to 64% of the total.
In late 2024, a mandatory reimbursement scheme will be introduced across all payment firms using the Faster Payments network.
This should mean APP fraud victims will get their money back in all but exceptional circumstances. However, Which? has raised some early concerns about some of the new rules being proposed.
- Find out more: regulator risks weakening APP fraud protections
Unauthorised fraud falls
Unauthorised fraud losses across payment cards, remote banking and cheques fell to £340.7m. The total number of recorded cases has also dipped to 1.26m, down 10% on the previous year.
Banks prevented a further £651m from being stolen via unauthorised fraud.
Remote purchase or card-not-present fraud accounts for the bulk of payment-card losses, which have fallen to £173.8m – the lowest reported in eight years – thanks to security improvements such as strong customer authentication.
UK Finance has warned that card ID theft has bucked the downward trend, as losses increased by 57% to £33.1m. This type of unauthorised fraud involves criminals using personal information and card details to either take over an existing account or apply for new credit cards.
You are legally protected against unauthorised fraud losses and UK Finance says victims are fully refunded in 98% of cases.
If your bank or credit card provider refuses to refund unauthorised fraud losses, make a formal complaint and take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you're unhappy with its response.
- Find out more: how to take a complaint to the Ombudsman
