Bank transfer scams cost victims £479m in 2020, reveals UK Finance

Less than half of the total value of losses to bank transfer scams last year was returned to victims by banks and other finance providers, industry figures show.

ome £479 million was lost in 2020 to scams where people were tricked into making bank transfers to fraudsters – also known as authorised push payment (APP) fraud, according to the data from UK Finance.

This total was up by 5% compared with the previous year.

Banks and other finance providers were able to return £206.9 million of the losses from APP fraud to victims, which UK Finance said was about three-quarters more than the sum returned in 2019.

UK Finance said it has seen criminals openly advertising fraud and scam services for sale online, including template phishing websites and custom-built scam apps which replicate real banking apps.

It said it “cannot be right” that online firms are effectively profiting from fraud – adding the Online Safety Bill must ensure online platforms step up efforts to protect customers.

Katy Worobec, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance, said: “The banking industry has worked hard throughout the pandemic to protect customers from fraud and to go after the criminals behind it, with over £1.6 billion of fraud stopped in 2020.

“However, we are seeing a worrying rise in online and technology-enabled scams that evade banks’ advanced security systems and use digital platforms to target victims directly, tricking them into giving away their money or information.

“We urge the Government to use the upcoming Online Safety Bill to ensure online platforms take action to protect customers by taking down scam adverts on search engines, removing fake profiles on online dating websites and tackling fraudulent content on social media.

“It cannot be right that online firms are effectively profiting from fraud, while society as a whole pays the price.”

The number of APP cases recorded increased by 22% last year to nearly 150,000.

Investment scams were the fastest-rising type of APP scam, totalling £135.1 million. People can lose particularly large sums to investment scams, and may be tempted due to the low returns available generally during the coronavirus crisis.

Purchase scams, in which the victim pays in advance for goods or services that are never received, remained the most common form of APP fraud, accounting for more than half (52%) of cases.

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