How fraud victims are losing £4m every day to scams

BRITAIN’S fraud epidemic has been laid bare as figures reveal £4million a day is now being lost to scams.

Fraudsters stole £753.9million in the first six months of this year, up 30 per cent from the same period last year, the banking industry said yesterday.

It is the first time bank transfer scam losses – where customers are tricked into sending money to criminals – have outnumbered credit and debit card fraud.

And while losses to so-called ‘authorised push payment’ cons soared 71 per cent to £355.3million, only £150.7million was returned despite most banks pledging to reimburse victims.

The increase in losses is in part thanks to a surge in text and call scams during the pandemic by

‘Just the tip of the iceberg’

criminals impersonating trusted organisations such as Royal Mail, HMRC and Amazon.

Banking body UK Finance, which compiled the figures, warned stolen money was being used to fund terrorism. It yesterday called on the Government to legislate against fraudulent adverts in its Online Safety Bill.

Katy Worobec, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance, said: ‘The level of fraud in the UK is such that it is now a national security threat.

‘The banking sector cannot solve this on its own – there must be a co-ordinated approach adopted across every sector if this is to be tackled effectively.’

Last night, campaigners and politicians accused the Government of failing to deal with the issue. Mark Taber, a campaigner against investment fraud, said: ‘I am sure these figures are just the tip of the iceberg. Most fraud is underreported because victims are vulnerable, they feel embarrassed and don’t think they will get their money back anyway.’