The UK lost £2.5b in fraud and cybercrime cases in 2021

By Gaia Lamperti

UK residents and businesses have reported financial losses of £2.5b from fraud and cyber-crime over the course of 2021, a new study reveals. Research, carried by leading chargeback firm and online trading scam specialists Payback Ltd, analysed data drawn from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) to reveal that the UK has reported almost 500,000 cases of fraud and cyber-crime that have resulted in financial loss.

Spanning data from November 2020 to November 2021, it was found that the UK has reported an average of 40,586 cases of fraud and cyber-crime per month, with an average financial loss of £5,700 per case. The height of cyber-crime activity appeared during the earlier months of the year. In February, the UK reported 47,800 cases equating to £267.6 million in financial loss, while in March more than 48,500 cases amounted to losses of £219.3 million.

“It is difficult to see such high figures relating to fraudulent and criminal activity taking place over the course of the year. It is imperative that the British public exercise caution when making financial transactions of any kind, and to ensure that they are confident that any transactions are done via official, safe and legal means,” Payback Ltd commented.

Fraud involving online shopping and auctions made it into the top five reported crimes, amounts to more than 100,000 reported cases through the year, to a value of £77.1 million in financial loss. The overall umbrella of “consumer fraud” includes other criminal activity such as dating scams and bogus tradesmen, and accounts for £437.2 million of the country’s losses this year.

There have been 62,976 reports made by British businesses throughout 2021, equating to a total reported financial loss of £736.3 million.

When it comes to fraud and cybercrime cases relating to individual British residents, the cases amount to 87% of the country’s total report volume. This translates to £1.8 billion of financial loss incurred over a reported 421,473 cases. Those aged 20-29 reported the most instances of criminal activity, with 82,200 reports made across the course of the year – followed closely by those aged 30-39, who clocked in 80.900 reports.

After such a dark year for cybercrime, fraud prevention seems like the only way forward. “From an online fraud prevention perspective, it’s crucial that effective security measures are more readily implemented to limit the ability of cybercriminals to commit crime,” Tamás Kádár, Co-founder and CEO of SEON, the industry-leading fraud fighters, told IBS Intelligence. “Fraud is broadly on the rise but growing particularly quickly on the internet. Fintech providers and businesses who adopt their services, can’t ignore this problem and must work alongside experts in the field to ensure they’re doing all they can to protect themselves.”

“Online attacks are getting more sophisticated, whilst also becoming cheaper to pull off. Rates of identity theft are constantly on the rise and we don’t want to see new records reached again next year. To ensure this isn’t the case, we’re going to need to see individuals engage more with online fraud and security experts,” Kádár added. “Without this action, I can see a rise in online fraud and attacks being the big trend of 2022.

Monthly breakdown of UK cybercrime & fraud reports