UK consumers lose £580m to fraudsters in first half of 2023, figures reveal

Romance scams and ID theft among fastest growing categories with total of 1.4m fraud cases recorded thus far, says UK Finance

Scammers were responsible for nearly 1.4m cases of fraud in the UK during the first half of 2023 - the equivalent of one every 12 seconds - with romance scams and ID theft among the fastest growing categories.

Overall, criminals stole 580m in the first six months of the year, according to the banking trade association UK Finance, suggesting households are set to lose more than 1bn to fraudsters during 2023.