Mike Haley
CEO, Cifas
Imagine waking up to find your identity has been stolen – not just bank details, but your entire digital footprint, cloned by AI to apply for loans, mortgages or even jobs in your name.
This isn’t a dystopian future. It’s already happening.
Fraud accounts for 45% of all crime across England and Wales1, costing our economy a staggering £219 billion2 annually. Last year, Cifas members filed over 444,000 fraud cases to the National Fraud Database (NFD). Identity fraud and facility takeover – where criminals hijack accounts – made up 72% of those cases. And in just the first half of 2025, £600 million was stolen from UK banks, with APP fraud losses up 12% to £257.5 million.3
Impacts of fraud
Behind every statistic is a real person – someone who’s had their life savings stolen, a small business pushed to the brink or a vulnerable individual manipulated. Fraud doesn’t solely drain wallets; it erodes trust in our digital economy.
For businesses, the impact goes beyond direct losses. Fraud drives operational cost, increases regulatory and compliance pressures, strains customer-facing teams and poses material reputational risk. As digital services become the default channel for engagement, sustained fraud threats erode confidence in identity, payments and communication systems that underpin growth and innovation.
Fraud doesn’t solely drain wallets;
it erodes trust in our digital economy.
Against this backdrop, prevention is critical. In 2025, Cifas members prevented more than £2.4 billion in fraud losses, a 14% increase on the previous year and the highest figure ever recorded. This demonstrates the value of trusted data sharing and cross‑sector collaboration in reducing harm before it occurs.
Evolving nature of fraud
The nature of fraud is also evolving rapidly. Four out of five scams are digitally enabled, with criminals exploiting the same technologies that support productivity and economic growth. Organised criminal groups operate at scale across borders, increasingly using automation and AI to generate convincing fake documents, impersonate individuals and accelerate attacks faster than traditional controls can respond.
This is why sharing data and intelligence across industries and borders is vital. It’s up to us to seize this moment and close the gaps fraudsters exploit and protect people and economies effectively.
[1] Home Office & The Rt Hon Lord Hanson of Flint. (2026). Fraud Strategy launch. https://tinyurl.com/4tbj9dtw.
[2] Crowe. (2023). Annual Fraud Indicator. https://tinyurl.com/29c8cysb.
[3] UK Finance. Over £600 million stolen by fraudsters in first half of 2025. https://tinyurl.com/3d5233t4.
