Fraud continues to pose a major threat to the UK and as criminals become ever more imaginative in their attempts to steal customers? money, this shows no sign of changing.

Our Fraud - the Facts 2020 report highlights that last year investment by the finance industry in advanced security systems to protect customers prevented more than £1.8 billion of unauthorised fraud. But criminals still successfully stole over £1.2 billion through fraud and scams in 2019.

Despite the many steps taken by the finance industry the battle continues and new fronts have opened up in recent years, in particular the huge growth in fraud being driven by online adverts and social media content. These include romance scams perpetrated by fraudsters on online dating sites; investment fraud - where criminals often advertise seemingly authentic investment opportunities online but in fact the whole project is a scam; and purchase fraud where goods are advertised online and on auction sites at 'too good to be true? rates in order to entice people to buy, but again, in most cases it is likely to be a scam. Fraudsters have also increasingly been targeting younger people online through ?Money Mule? adverts offering students and young people in particular money to have funds transferred through their bank account and back out again, which is effectively money laundering.