The most common scam, and the least discussed
Purchase scams are the highest-volume fraud in every national dataset that separates them, and they attract the least attention. UK Finance recorded purchase scams as 71% of all authorised push payment cases in 2025, with losses of £118.1 million. The FBI logged 56,478 non-payment and non-delivery complaints and $503.4 million. In Australia, more people reported losing money to shopping scams than to any other type.
- Year
- 2025
- Where
- United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada
- Outcome
- Ongoing
- Reported loss
- $503.4 million
- Victims
- 56,478
- Schemes
- Ticket and marketplace scams, Puppy and pet scams, Overpayment and fake cheque scams, Rental and real estate scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-06
The facts, as recorded
- United Kingdom 2025: purchase scams were 71% of all APP fraud cases, with losses of £118.1 million, up 20%.
- United States 2025: 56,478 non-payment and non-delivery complaints, $503,373,587 in losses.
- United States 2024: 49,572 complaints, $785,436,888 — losses fell in 2025 while complaints rose.
- Australia 2025: 12,248 people reported a financial loss to shopping scams, more than any other scam type, totalling A$10.8 million.
- That was a 22.2% increase on the 10,022 Australians who reported a shopping-scam loss in 2024.
- Canada 2025 to 30 September: 1,914 merchandise reports, 1,613 victims, C$8,457,716.
- Canadian counterfeit merchandise reports fell from 5,207 in 2021 to 341 in the first nine months of 2025.
Why this case matters
Investment fraud gets the headlines because the totals are enormous. Purchase scams get almost none, despite being the scam that most people actually encounter.
The UK figure states it plainly: 71% of all authorised push payment fraud cases were purchase scams. Seven in ten. In Australia, more people reported losing money to shopping scams than to any other category. In the US, non-payment and non-delivery generated 56,478 complaints.
Why the attention gap exists
Because per-victim losses are small. A concert ticket, a games console, a puppy deposit, a piece of furniture — a few hundred dollars, occasionally a few thousand. That is a bad week rather than a life-altering event, and it does not produce the coverage that a lost pension does.
But the aggregate is not small. £118.1 million in the UK alone, up 20% in a year, and $503 million in the US.
The counterfeit collapse
One number in the Canadian data is worth pulling out. Counterfeit merchandise reports fell from 5,207 in 2021 to 341 in the first nine months of 2025 — a fall of roughly 95%.
That is almost certainly a change in what people report rather than in what happens. Buying something that turns out to be fake is now handled as a marketplace dispute or a chargeback, not as a fraud report to a national centre. It is a useful reminder that these categories measure reporting behaviour as much as criminal behaviour.
What it tells you about the scheme
The single most consequential fact about purchase scams is the payment method, because it determines whether the loss is permanent.
A card payment can be charged back. A payment through a marketplace’s own checkout is usually protected. A bank transfer to a seller, or a “friends and family” payment on a payment app, has neither protection — and steering the buyer onto exactly those rails, with a plausible reason, is the defining move of the scheme.
Sources
- Fraud remains a national security threat as criminals steal almost £1.3 billion. UK Finance. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: Purchase scams at 71% of APP cases and £118.1 million in 2025 losses, up 20%.
- 2025 Internet Crime Report. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: US non-payment and non-delivery complaint counts and losses for 2023, 2024 and 2025.
- Targeting scams: report of the National Anti-Scam Centre on scams data and activity 2025. National Anti-Scam Centre (ACCC), Australia. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: 12,248 Australians reporting a shopping-scam loss totalling A$10.8 million, up 22.2% from 10,022.
- Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre Fraud Reporting System Dataset. Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre / RCMP. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: Canadian merchandise and counterfeit merchandise reports, victims and losses, 2021 to 30 September 2025.