Losses due to card fraud and cyber attacks leap by 26%

Some £755 million-worth of losses were recorded in 2015 across payment cards, remote banking such as internet and mobile phone banking, and cheques, Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK) found.

The figures also reveal that bank and card company security systems detected and prevented a total of £1.76 billion of fraud from happening in 2015 - equating to £7 in every £10 of potential fraud being stopped.

The body, whose members include banks and credit and debit card issuers, said the figures reflect the “increasing threat” from impersonation and deception scams, including criminals stealing people’s details to commit identity fraud.

A common way that criminals use to dupe someone into handing over their personal details is by cold calling, texting or emailing a victim, claiming to be from a trusted organisation, such as a bank, the police, a utility company or a government department.

Often, they will claim that the victim’s account needs to be “updated” or “verified” and/or there has been suspicious activity on the victim’s account. They will then try to trick the victim into handing over personal details which can be used to commit fraud. Sometimes, they will trick the victim into transferring money directly to them.

There has also been a growth in sophisticated online attacks such as data breaches and malware, where malicious software is unknowingly downloaded onto a computer, FFA UK said.