Investment scams saw a sharp 34% increase in losses in the first recorded rise since 2021, according to the annual UK Finance Annual Fraud Report.

The rising losses of £144.4m came despite case number falling by a quarter year-on-year to 7,767.

Investment scams accounted for nearly a third of all authorized push payment fraud last year, with several scams linked to cryptocurrencies on the rise.

Around half of investment fraud victims reported being enabled online (53%), with a quarter via telecoms channels (23%).

The reimbursement rate for investment scams in 2024 was 50%, up from 34% in 2020.

Overall, there were 3.31m reported cases of financial fraud in 2024, a 12% rise year on year, according to the annual UK Finance Annual Fraud Report.

The number of cases is the highest since UK Finance began its annual report in 2020.

A total of £1.17bn was lost to financial fraudsters in 2024, a 0.4% increase from 2023.

A further £1.45bn of unauthorized fraud was prevented by the industry, 16% more than was prevented in 2023.

Erin Sims, financial services senior analyst at RSM UK, said the data shows how the financial services industry need to work better with technology providers to disrupt fraud.

She said: “Fraudsters are targeting more victims with increasingly sophisticated tactics. The rise in remote purchase fraud and the evolving nature of authorised push payment scams signal that criminals are adapting rapidly and leveraging scalable, low-cost tools to automate social engineering, mimic identities and exploit vulnerabilities at an unprecedented speed.

“To mitigate these threats, firms must invest not only in advanced technology but also in sustained customer education to build resilience across all touchpoints. Moreover, this reinforces the need for a joined-up approach across the entire ecosystem, where financial institutions, tech platforms, telecoms providers and regulators work in unison to disrupt fraud at its source.”

Last year saw the introduction of mandatory reimbursement for Authorised Push Payment Fraud (APP).

The latest figures from UK Finance show that total APP losses fell by 2% to £450m in 2024, but case volumes also declined by 20%, representing the lowest figures for cases and losses since 2021.

While APP has declined, the trend for remote purchase fraud has been reversed, likely signalling a shift in fraudsters’ tactics. Criminals have shifted to extracting larger sums from more ‘profitable’ scams.