Surge in UK savings lost to investment scams, with fake crypto thought to top the list | Scams
The amount of money lost by UK consumers to investment scams has risen by 55% in a year, data shows, as cryptocurrency scammers intensify their efforts to deprive people of their savings.
Official UK banking industry data shows the total amount stolen by fraudsters rose by 3% to £629 million in the first six months of this year compared to last year, while investment fraud losses rose to £97.7 million – more than £500,000 a day.
With these scams, criminals often use the lure of high returns to trick their victims into transferring their money to a fictitious fund or paying for a fake investment. While the scams include assets such as gold, wine, property, carbon credits and land, fake cryptocurrency is thought to be at the top of the list.
Banking body UK Finance, which published the data, said industry intelligence pointed to “the continued prevalence of cryptocurrency-related scams and the promise of significant returns advertised on social media”.
For victims, this process often begins by clicking on a (fake) social media ad or news alert, or by watching a deepfake video. This is often a tip for a supposedly lucrative crypto investment, but is actually a ruse that leads scammers to impersonate a real business.
Traders often hand over a relatively small sum at first (perhaps £250) and think they’ve struck it rich, thanks to the sophisticated tools the scammers use, such as software that displays a seemingly live crypto trading screen.
Victims often lose larger sums when trying to cash out, and their “winnings” are always blocked by the need for another payment (this could be a broker fee or tax bill).
In March, the Guardian reported on a crypto scam operating in the former Soviet state of Georgia that duped people in the UK out of £9 million. Deepfake videos and fictional news stories featuring figures such as currency expert Martin Lewis have been used to promote fake investments.
Some people, including people working in finance, were deprived of hundreds of thousands of lira.
The UK Finance findings are expected to fuel calls for cryptocurrency companies and trading bodies to play a greater role in efforts to combat fraud through industry collaboration.
A Stop Scam event was held in the UK on Wednesday round table behind closed doors Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and Fraud Minister Lord Hanson attended the meeting held for companies in the banking, telecommunications and technology sectors.
It became clear that some participants wanted the cryptocurrency industry to participate in ongoing collaboration, with firms working together to share data and propose solutions.
UK Finance is calling on the government’s upcoming fraud strategy to “ensure all sectors are accountable for fraud prevention”.
Another area where there was a “worrying” increase in fraud losses was romance scams, where victims were misled into believing they were in a relationship, with the total amount stolen rising by 35% on last year.
There was a 27% increase in contactless card fraud in the first six months of 2025.
Many experts believe the actual totals are much higher; Because many fraud victims do not report the crime, often because they are embarrassed or intimidated.
The Payments Association UK, a trade body responding to the data, said: Policymakers “failed to address the real issue: preventing fraud at its source, preventing crime from occurring, and enforcing social media accountability.”
TSB bank fraud manager Richard Daniels said these crimes were caused and enabled by “vulnerabilities in other sectors, particularly social media”. He added: “Phone companies and social media platforms must take urgent action to cut fraudulent content at the source.”
