Lloyds Bank warns customers £1 million 'has already been lost' to scam

A record purchase scam level is behind the rise in APP fraud cases in 2023, UK Finance has warned. A record amount was lost to purchase scams last year, where people were tricked into paying for goods that never materialised, UK Finance said.

Some 156,000 purchase scam cases were recorded, with a total loss of £85.9 million, marking the highest loss and case total recorded by the organisation, which represents the banking and finance industry. Lloyds Bank recently estimated that, based on analysis of its own scam reports, more than £1 million could already have been lost in the UK to fraudsters pretending to offer Taylor Swift concert tickets.

Ben Donaldson, managing director, economic crime at UK Finance told journalists: "Every year we see a cycle of scams changing throughout the year... I think the Olympics and Taylor Swift are probably the two biggest ones for this year."

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UK Finance's report said: "It is perhaps assumed that purchase scams only involve high volumes of lower value 'too good to be true' scams." But UK Finance said that data from members of a voluntary reimbursement code indicates "around 9% of cases and two-thirds of losses involving purchases with a value in excess of £1,000".

The total number of APP cases jumped by 12% annually last year to 232,429. APP fraud losses totalled £459.7 million, down by 5% compared with the previous year. This was made up of £376.4 million of personal losses and £83.3 million of business losses. UK Finance's APP scam records go back to 2020.

Romance scams, where victims are tricked into believing they are in a relationship, also reached a high, with £36.5 million lost this way, according to UK Finance. The report added: "One area of APP fraud to watch in the coming year is the evolution of losses across investment scams."

The report continued: "As these pressures are expected to dissipate in 2024 with rising real incomes, the risk of losses through investment scams could increase."