UK Fraud Losses Hit £1.28 Billion in 2025 as UK Finance Calls for Stronger Duties on Tech and Telecoms

UK Finance says criminals stole £1.28 billion through payment fraud in 2025, up 4 per cent, and the report is blunt about where a lot of this starts: online platforms and telecoms. For PSPs, acquirers, and high-risk merchants, the practical point is simple — fraud prevention is moving further upstream, toward the channels that enable the sale or the scam in the first place.

1. UK Finance’s latest Annual Fraud Report says its members reported £1.28 billion stolen through payment fraud in 2025, a 4 per cent increase. Ruth Ray, Managing Director of Economic Crime at UK Finance, said fraud operates “on an industrial scale” and is “a national security threat,” with the losses typically funding serious and organised crime in the UK and globally.
2. Most authorised push payment (APP) fraud cases still start online, at 66 per cent, or through telecommunication networks, at 17 per cent. That is why UK Finance is calling for stronger, enforceable responsibilities on companies in those sectors, rather than leaving the financial sector to act as the only line of defence.
3. The report’s policy asks are specific. UK Finance wants Ofcom to impose stronger and proactive fraud prevention obligations on high-risk platforms to tackle fraudulent advertising, especially investment fraud that often starts on social media. It also wants online marketplaces to verify sellers and use secure payment mechanisms instead of allowing separate bank transfers off-platform, which is aimed at purchase fraud.
4. UK Finance also says firms in the tech and telecommunications sectors should be required to contribute financially, as well as share expertise, intelligence, and capabilities to support proactive fraud prevention. In other words, the burden is being framed as infrastructure-wide, not just a banking problem.
5. On unauthorised fraud, losses were down 5 per cent to £703.4 million, but reported cases rose 11 per cent to 3.81 million. Criminals continued to use more sophisticated social engineering tactics in 2025, including compromising one-time passcodes to register digital wallets or make fraudulent transactions.
6. Within that bucket, remote purchase card fraud losses rose 3 per cent to £423.5 million, with cases up 13 per cent to 3.2 million. Lost and stolen card fraud losses fell 2 per cent to £109.8 million, while cases increased 2 per cent to 449,189.
7. Remote banking fraud losses fell 27 per cent to £104.4 million, but cases increased 11 per cent to 37,646, driven by a 21 per cent increase in mobile banking cases. Contactless fraud losses increased 8 per cent to £46.8 million. UK Finance said the industry prevented £1.68 billion in unauthorised fraud.

For PSPs and acquirers, the useful reading here is not just the headline loss figure. UK Finance is explicitly pushing the debate toward platform liability, telecoms obligations, and off-platform payment flows — the places where many APP fraud chains actually begin.