Last year, criminals stole £1.28 billion through fraud in the UK. But “fraud” is a broad word, and it covers very different crimes with different tactics, different warning signs, and different routes to getting your money back.
At CEL Solicitors, we opened almost 8,000 fraud cases in 2025. That gives us a detailed picture of which frauds are doing the most damage, and we can set it alongside the national figures published by UK Finance in its Annual Fraud Report 2026.
Here are the most common scams of 2025. If you recognise your own story in any of them, please know this: it was not your fault, and it may not be too late to get your money back.
Investment scams: the most costly fraud in Britain
An investment scam persuades you to put money into something that does not exist: cryptocurrency, shares, gold, property. The criminals who run them are organised and patient. They build convincing websites and trading platforms, show you fake returns, and encourage you to invest more. By the time you try to withdraw your “profits”, the money is gone.
Nationally: investment scams cost victims £221.5 million in 2025, the highest ever recorded and 38 per cent of all APP scam losses. Cases rose 26 per cent to nearly 15,000. Worst of all, less than half of the money lost (just 48 per cent) was returned to victims.
At CEL: investment scams were by far our biggest category, making up more than half of the cases where a scam type was recorded: over 3,700 claims with an average reported loss of £39,136. In the same year, we settled more than 1,100 investment scam cases, recovering almost £23 million for those clients.
Victims of investment fraud often blame themselves for not spotting it. But these scams are run like businesses, with sales teams, scripts and fake paperwork. There are often hundreds of staff members in contact with thousands of people, with the sole purpose of taking their victims’ money. There is no shame in being taken in by the “professionals”.
Romance scams: the cruellest fraud of all
A romance scam starts with a connection, whether on a dating app, on social media, or through an unexpected message. Over weeks or months, the person on the other end becomes important to you. Then the requests begin: a visa problem, a medical bill, a flight home they never board.
Nationally: romance fraud losses hit a record £39.2 million in 2025, with case numbers rising for the fifth year in a row. On average, victims made almost ten separate payments, the highest of any scam type, showing how these criminals build trust gradually and take money little by little.
At CEL: we opened 322 romance fraud cases in 2025, with an average reported loss of £33,992, more than five times the national average. There is a reason for that gap: the cases that reach us are often the most devastating, where someone’s savings, inheritance or pension has gone to a person who never existed.
If this happened to you, the shame you may feel is exactly what the criminal is counting on to keep you silent. We will never judge you, and we are here to help. You are not alone.
Purchase scams: small amounts, enormous scale
A purchase scam is simple: you pay for something (a car, a phone, concert tickets, a holiday), and it never arrives. These scams thrive on online marketplaces and social media, where criminals post tempting deals and then persuade you to pay by bank transfer rather than a protected payment method.
Nationally: purchase scams are Britain’s most common bank transfer scam by far, making up 71 per cent of all APP scam cases: nearly 176,000 in 2025. Because the average loss is around £671, they rarely make headlines, but together they cost the public £118.1 million.
At CEL: purchase scams are a smaller part of our caseload, and there is a simple reason why. We take on cases with losses over £3,000, and most purchase scams fall below that. The purchase scam cases we do handle (232 opened in 2025, averaging £11,620) involve bigger-ticket items such as vehicles, machinery and property deposits.
If you’ve lost a smaller amount, it’s still always worth reporting to your bank and to Report Fraud (which replaced Action Fraud in December 2025). In 2025, 78 per cent of purchase scam losses were returned to victims, one of the best rates of any scam type.
Impersonation scams: when the fraudster sounds official
An impersonation scam begins with a call, text or email from someone you feel you should trust: your bank’s fraud team, the police, HMRC, even a delivery company. They tell you something urgent is wrong. Your account is compromised, a payment is suspicious, a fine is overdue. In the classic version, you are told to move your money to a “safe account”. That account belongs to the criminals.
Nationally: there is some good news here. Impersonation scams fell to their lowest level since 2020, as banks and telecoms companies got better at blocking them. But they still cost victims more than £92 million across around 24,500 cases in 2025, so the threat is far from gone.
At CEL: these cases remain serious. We opened 193 impersonation scam cases in 2025 with an average reported loss of £20,087, more than five times the national average, and settled 91 cases during the year, recovering almost £1.9 million for those clients.
These scams work because victims are trying to do the responsible thing: listening to someone who sounds official and acting quickly to protect their money. That instinct is nothing to be ashamed of, and it is the very thing the criminals exploit.
Advance fee scams: pay a little, lose a lot
An advance fee scam convinces you to pay a fee to unlock something bigger: a loan, an inheritance, a prize, goods held “in customs”. Once you pay, either the demands keep coming or the promised money simply never appears.
Nationally: these scams surged in 2025. Losses rose 65 per cent to £58.4 million, the fastest growth of any major scam type, driven by fake deposits for vehicles and holiday rentals that never existed.
At CEL: we opened 183 advance fee cases in 2025 with an average reported loss of £31,674, and settled 229 cases during the year, recovering £1.7 million.
Job scams: the fraud nobody is talking about
You will not find this one in the national report. A job scam offers you work, often flexible online “task-based” work, that requires you to pay in before you can earn. Victims are strung along with small early payouts, then pressured to deposit ever larger sums to “unlock” their earnings.
At CEL: job scams were our second biggest category in 2025: 1,356 cases, with £12.3 million in reported losses. Yet nationally, this scam type barely registers as its own category. Our caseload suggests job scams are a far bigger problem than the headline statistics show, and they disproportionately target the people who can least afford to lose money: jobseekers and those looking for any legitimate way to make ends meet.
If you paid money to an “employer” or platform and can’t get it back, that is fraud, and you have the same rights as any other victim.
What all of these scams have in common
These scams may look different, but they work the same way. They all rely on manipulation: building trust, urgency or fear until sending money feels like the right thing to do. The banking industry calls these “authorised” payments because you pressed the button. But you authorised a payment based on a lie, and English law and banking rules increasingly recognise that.
That matters for one simple reason: money lost to these scams can often be recovered. In 2025 alone, CEL recovered £31.8 million for fraud victims. Banks can be challenged, refusals can be overturned, and cases can be taken to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
What to do next
Report the scam to your bank and to Report Fraud as soon as you can. Gather everything: messages, adverts, payment confirmations, screenshots. And if your bank refuses to refund you, or you simply don’t know where to start, speak to us. Our specialist fraud solicitors act on a no-win, no-fee basis, and the first conversation is free and without the obligation to continue.
Whatever the scam, however it happened, don’t let embarrassment keep you from what you may be owed. Just tell CEL. We listen, we care, we win.
Been scammed? Contact CEL Solicitors today for a free, confidential assessment of your case.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get my money back after being scammed?
Report the fraud to your bank first and ask to be considered for reimbursement, then report it to Report Fraud. Keep all your evidence, including messages, adverts and payment records. If your bank refuses to refund you, the decision can be challenged either through the Financial Ombudsman Service or with the help of specialist fraud solicitors.
Can you get money back from a bank transfer scam?
Often, yes. Reimbursement rules introduced in October 2024 mean banks must refund many victims of bank transfer (APP) scams. How much is returned varies by scam type: in 2025, 78 per cent of purchase scam losses were returned to victims, but only 48 per cent of investment scam losses. A refusal from your bank is not necessarily final.
What is the most common scam in the UK?
By number of cases, purchase scams, which made up 71 per cent of all APP scam cases in 2025. By money lost, investment scams, which cost victims a record £221.5 million in the same year.
A note on our figures: CEL case numbers count each claim against a financial institution separately, in line with UK Finance’s methodology. Loss figures are based on bank transaction values declared by our clients when bringing their case, from cases opened in 2025. Recovery figures cover cases settled during 2025, whenever they were opened. CEL accepts authorised push payment fraud cases with losses over £3,000. All national statistics are from the UK Finance Annual Fraud Report 2026.
