£576 million and 248,070 cases: the UK's authorised push payment problem
UK Finance recorded £1.28 billion in total payment fraud losses in 2025, of which £576.4 million was authorised push payment fraud — money victims sent themselves after being deceived — across 248,070 cases. Impersonation fraud, the category containing the safe-account scam, was one of the few to fall, with losses down 12% and cases down 11%, while investment fraud rose 40%.
- Year
- 2025
- Where
- United Kingdom
- Outcome
- Ongoing
- Reported loss
- $759.4 million
- Victims
- 248,070
- Schemes
- Bank impersonation and the safe account, Ticket and marketplace scams, Fake investment platforms, Romance scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-06
The facts, as recorded
- Total UK payment fraud losses in 2025: £1.28 billion, a 4% increase.
- Authorised push payment fraud: £576.4 million, up 19%, across 248,070 cases, up 7%.
- Investment fraud was the single largest driver, up 40% to £221.5 million across 14,893 cases.
- Purchase scams remained the most common, at 71% of all APP cases, with losses of £118.1 million, up 20%.
- Romance fraud losses reached £39.2 million, up 23%, with cases up 22%.
- Impersonation fraud — the category containing the safe-account scam — saw losses fall 12% and cases fall 11%.
- The UK operates 159, a short code that connects a caller to their own bank and cannot be spoofed, and 7726 for forwarding scam texts.
Why this case matters
The United Kingdom measures this better than almost anywhere, because its banks record authorised push payment fraud as its own category — money the victim sent themselves after being deceived, as opposed to money taken from them directly.
The 2025 numbers show a system under real strain in one place and making progress in another. Overall APP losses rose 19% to £576.4 million. But impersonation fraud, which is where the safe-account scam sits, fell on both measures: losses down 12%, cases down 11%.
Why impersonation might be falling in the UK specifically
Two interventions are unusual here and worth naming, because they are the kind of thing that can be copied.
159. A short code that connects a caller directly to their own bank. It cannot be spoofed, it requires no lookup, and it is memorable — which matters, because the moment someone needs it is the moment they are least able to research anything. It is a direct structural answer to caller ID spoofing.
Mandatory reimbursement. The UK introduced rules requiring banks to reimburse APP fraud victims in qualifying cases. That changes the economics for the receiving bank as well as the sending one, which gives institutions a reason to care about mule accounts rather than treating the loss as the customer’s problem.
Neither is proof of causation, and this page is not claiming one. But a category falling while the total rises 19% is worth noticing.
Where the growth went instead
Investment fraud, up 40% to £221.5 million, was the single largest driver. Romance fraud rose 23%. Purchase scams remained the most common by volume at 71% of all cases.
The pattern matches other countries: the schemes that involve a bank calling you are getting harder, and the schemes that involve a relationship and a platform are getting bigger.
Reading it honestly
These figures cover losses recorded by UK Finance member banks. Fraud against non-members, fraud never reported to a bank, and unauthorised fraud counted separately are all outside them. As everywhere on this site, they are a floor.
Sources
- Fraud remains a national security threat as criminals steal almost £1.3 billion. UK Finance. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: Every figure above, from the press release accompanying the Annual Fraud Report 2026, published 15 June 2026.
- Reporting fraud. UK Government, Stop! Think Fraud campaign. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The 159 and 7726 short codes and the UK reporting routes.