Online fraud drives UK scam crisis as case numbers soar

Fraudsters exploit passcodes in alarming increase of online theft

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Fraudsters are shifting their tactics to buy items online using stolen details, and sometimes tricking people into disclosing their one-time passcodes, according to a banking and finance industry body.

Cases where criminals used stolen details to buy items online helped to push up the number of unauthorised fraud payments last year.

UK Finance recorded 3.13 million cases of unauthorised fraud in 2024 - where money is taken from someone's account by a third party, without the account holder's consent.

This was a 14% increase compared with 2023. Unauthorised fraud losses totalled £722 million in 2024 - a 2% annual increase.

One of the main reasons for the rise was an increase in remote purchase fraud, which had been falling in recent years, UK Finance said.

With this type of fraud, criminals use stolen card details to buy something on the internet, over the phone or through mail order. Remote purchase fraud case numbers increased by 22% to nearly 2.6 million, and losses increased by 11% to nearly £400 million.