Fuelled by the Covid-19 pandemic and digital transformation in many industries, online fraud and scams are a growing problem throughout the world. In 2022, the UK alone reported that more than £1.2bn had been lost to fraud, while the banking and finance industry prevented a further £1.2bn getting into the hands of criminals.
Fraudsters are using increasingly sophisticated methods, including investment scams, online shopping scams, online dating scams and payment direction scams (where the perpetrator impersonates a business and requests money to be sent to a fraudulent account). Of the £1.2bn lost to fraud, £485.2m was attributed to authorised push payment (APP) fraud, the most prevalent being purchase scams and investment scams.
