Losses caused by criminals posing as conveyancers and other tradespeople to intercept large payments totalled £19.9 million in the first half of 2025, a decrease of 24% on the same period the previous year, according to the latest half year fraud report from banking trade association UK Finance.
And although the figures show a year-on-year increase in the number of scams recorded – 3083 in the first six months of 2025, compared to 2817 between January and June 2024 – the figure has declined significantly over the last five years.
In 2020, 11,041 invoice and mandate scams were recorded. In 2021, that fell to just under 10,497, with 8,305 in 2022 and 7,522 in 2023. In 2024, there were 5,759 recorded scams.
However, the reduction in invoice and mandate scams – where criminals target consumers making high-value payments such as property purchases by sending forged emails containing their own bank account details – bucks the trend of the wider figures for fraud in 2025.
There was an increase in both the total number of fraud cases and the amount of money lost in the first half of 2025, with £629.3 million stolen and 2.09 confirmed cases – a 3% increase in losses and a 17% increase in cases compared to the same period last year.
‘Fraud continues to be a major threat to our society and our economy, and criminals continue to adapt ways to steal victims’ money and funnel significant sums of money to criminal enterprises, impacting society greatly’, said Ben Donaldson, UK Finance managing director of economic crime.
“Despite the ongoing investment and prevention measure by the industry, the majority of fraud originates outside the banking system, online and over the phone, where manipulation begins long before any payment is made.
“The scale of the threat is not commensurate with the current level of government investment in countering it or the insufficient action by other sectors. The government must prioritise prevention and hold the social media and telecommunications industries to account in its new Fraud Strategy.”
