Fraud is a national security issue

Banks have described the rise in consumer fraud as a real threat to UK national security as scams break all time records.

Losses by ordinary citizens being tricked by fraudsters have risen over 70% in 12 months. In the first half of 2021 over £355m was stolen compared with nearly £208m in the same period in 2020 according to UK Finance.

The type of crime officially known as ‘authorised push payment fraud’ has overtaken more traditional methods such as credit card theft and cloning. Generally the crime is committed by criminals posing as bank staff or from government bodies.

UK Finance has pointed a finger at tech giants like Facebook and Google that they allege are slow to take down advertising for scam websites.

The total value of all fraud in the UK in the first half of 2021 came to nearly £754m