Payment Fraud Losses Reached £1.28 Billion in 2025

Payment Fraud Losses Reached £1.28 Billion in 2025

Criminals stole £1.28 billion through payment fraud in the United Kingdom during 2025, a 4 per cent rise on the year before and the second year of growth in a row. The figures come from UK Finance and its Annual Fraud Report 2026, which draws on data reported by its members. Behind the headline sits a clear split: losses from unauthorised fraud fell, while money lost to scams that trick people into paying rose sharply.

Payment fraud by category

The £1.28 billion total divides into two broad types. Unauthorised fraud, where a payment is made without the account holder’s consent, such as a stolen card or a hijacked account, accounted for £703.4 million gross, down 5 per cent. Authorised push payment fraud, where the victim is deceived into sending the money themselves, reached £576.4 million gross, up 19 per cent. The two figures moved in opposite directions over the year. Stronger detection and prevention controls have cut unauthorised losses, while scams that rely on manipulating the customer have climbed.

A widening gap between fraud types

The divergence is the report’s central theme. As banks harden the systems that spot unauthorised activity, criminals have shifted effort to the one weakness those systems struggle with: the customer’s own instruction. When a victim authorises the payment, controls built to catch anomalies are far less effective. The result is a threat that is less about compromised devices and more about compromised trust, which changes where losses now occur and how they can be stopped.

 

How authorised push payment scams work

Fraudsters build prolonged, trust based interactions to convince victims to move money, from fake romances to bogus investment schemes and impersonation of trusted organisations. They use digital channels, compromised credentials, artificial intelligence and real time manipulation to steer a payment past traditional safeguards. Criminal groups increasingly share resources and playbooks with each other, running the same scams across borders and at scale. Because the customer presses send, the payment often looks legitimate to the systems watching it.

Reimbursement and the recovery gap

Under mandatory reimbursement rules, banks now refund most victims of authorised push payment scams, which shifts more of the cost onto the industry and sharpens the incentive to recover stolen funds directly. Reimbursement compensates the victim, but it does not reclaim the money from the fraudster. That gap, between paying a customer back and getting the criminal proceeds back, is where investigation and tracing work now sits, and it is why banks, insurers and businesses increasingly pursue the funds themselves rather than absorb the loss.

What the payment fraud figures show

The numbers measure losses reported by UK Finance members, so they capture the regulated banking picture rather than every scam in the economy. They show a market where prevention alone is no longer the whole story, and where speed of response, reimbursement and recovery matter more each year. What they do not reveal is any single point at which the money can easily be clawed back once it has left an account.

Payment fraud and asset recovery

Once funds are pushed out, getting them back depends on finding where they went. Money is often layered through a chain of accounts, moved between businesses or converted into assets, and the trail goes cold quickly. Asset tracing follows that trail, identifies recoverable funds and property, and supports freezing and recovery action. For a business or insurer facing a large fraud loss, tracing the money early is often the difference between a write off and a recovery.

If your business has lost money to an authorised push payment scam, fill in the form below to get in touch with the Tremark team about tracing and recovering the funds.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much did payment fraud cost in 2025?

UK Finance reported £1.28 billion in losses across its members in 2025, up 4 per cent on the previous year.

What is an authorised push payment scam?

It is a scam where the victim is tricked into authorising a payment to a fraudster, for example through a fake investment or an impersonation, so the transfer looks legitimate.

Can money lost to a scam be recovered?

Sometimes. Recovery depends on acting quickly and tracing where the funds went before they are dispersed, which is where asset tracing helps.

Who can carry out asset tracing?

Investigations firms such as Tremark trace assets and funds for solicitors, insolvency practitioners and businesses pursuing money lost to fraud.