The finance industry prevented £1.66 billion ($2.2bn) of unauthorized fraud during 2018, effectively stopping £2 in every £3 of attempted unauthorized fraud, according to the latest report, Fraud the Facts 2019, from UK Finance. During the same period, a total of £1.2 billion was stolen by criminals committing both authorized and unauthorized fraud.
Industry research suggests that the theft of personal and financial information through social engineering caused by data breaches outside the financial sector was a major contributor to the fraud losses. Stolen data is used to commit fraud both directly and indirectly. There were several high-profile data breaches involving significant brands during 2018.
The £1.66 billion total is comprised of:
- £1.12 billion in attempted unauthorized card fraud
- £318 million in attempted unauthorized remote banking fraud
- £218 million in attempted unauthorized cheque fraud
A total of £1.2 billion was stolen by criminals committing fraud last year. This is comprised of:
- £354 million in authorized fraud
- £845 million in unauthorized fraud
Katy Worobec, managing director of Economic Crime at UK Finance, said in a statement: “Last month, the finance industry and consumer groups agreed a voluntary Code which will increase protection for customers from authorized push payment scams. It delivers a significant commitment from signatories to reimburse victims when the customer has met the standards expected of them under the Code. At the same time the industry continues to fight fraud on every front to protect customers and prevent this kind of crime – investing in advanced security systems and new ways to track stolen funds, assisting law enforcement in tackling the criminals and supporting the government in improving the ways in which intelligence is shared.”