If you lost money to a scam last year, you are far from alone. New figures from UK Finance show that criminals stole £1.28 billion from people and businesses across the UK in 2025, the highest total since 2021. Behind that number are more than four million individual cases. That works out at eight people defrauded every minute.
At CEL Solicitors, we saw the effects of this first-hand. In 2025, we opened almost 8,000 fraud cases, representing more than £169 million in reported losses. Every one of those cases is a person who was deceived into sending money to criminals.
This article breaks down what the UK Finance Annual Fraud Report 2026 tells us about fraud in Britain today, what we saw first-hand in our own casework, and, most importantly, what you can do if it has happened to you.
Fraud is growing and changing
The report’s headline finding is that fraud is still growing, but the type of fraud is changing.
Banks have become much better at stopping “unauthorised” fraud, the kind where a criminal gets into your account or uses your card without your knowledge. Losses in that category actually fell by five per cent in 2025, even though criminals attempted more of them than ever.
But that’s only half the story. There’s another kind of fraud, and it’s still growing. Authorised Push Payment fraud (usually shortened to APP fraud) is where you are tricked into sending money yourself. You believe you are paying for a genuine investment, a real holiday, or helping someone you love. The payment is real. The person on the other end is not, and this makes it more difficult for people to spot and to stop.
APP fraud losses rose 19 per cent in 2025 to £576.4 million, with cases at a record 248,070. This is exactly the kind of fraud CEL specialises in, and our caseload reflects the national picture: investment scams, romance fraud, fake jobs and bogus purchases, all relying on manipulation rather than hacking or physical theft.
The scams driving this growth (investment, purchase, romance and advance fee fraud) all recorded their highest ever losses in 2025. Together they cost victims £437 million, a rise of 35 per cent in a single year.
Will my bank refund me?
This is the question we hear most often, and the honest answer is: sometimes, but not always. Sometimes you have to force them to help or settle for a much lower consolation amount.
Since October 2024, new rules from the Payment Systems Regulator mean that banks must reimburse many APP fraud victims. The new rules are a welcome update to what can often be a callous and unsympathetic system. But the rules have limits. They generally cover payments up to £85,000, claims must usually be made within 13 months, and they only apply to certain payment types between UK accounts. Even then, banks too often look for reasons to place the blame on the victim rather than pay.
There is one gap in the rules that we see more than any other. In our experience, around 70 per cent of APP fraud cases involve cryptocurrency. The victim, or the scammer using the victim’s details, sets up a crypto account in the victim’s own name. Money is then transferred from their bank account to a crypto wallet that appears to belong to them, and the scammer steals it from there. Because that first payment goes to an account in your own name, banks class it as a “me to me” payment, and me to me payments are not covered by the APP reimbursement rules. The crypto platforms these scammers use are not heavily regulated by the FCA, and no rules currently force them to help scam victims get their funds back. In our view, regulation of crypto in the UK is urgently needed.
If this is what happened to you, do not assume you have no claim. Banks still have a duty to spot the warning signs of fraud across a pattern of payments, and cases like these can still be challenged.
The UK Finance report shows how big the gap still is. In 2025, only 48 per cent of the money lost to investment scams was returned to victims. For advance fee scams, the figure was 60 per cent. Even for romance fraud, a third of losses were never returned.
In other words, more than half of all investment scam losses were never recovered. If your bank has refused your claim, offered a partial refund, or told you the payment was your own fault, that is not necessarily the end of the road. This is precisely where fraud recovery solicitors can help.
What fraud recovery actually looked like in 2025
Our own casework shows a side of fraud recovery that national reports don’t cover.
In 2025, CEL Solicitors recovered £31.8 million for fraud victims across 2,059 settled cases. Many of those cases were opened and resolved within the year. Some were not. Some of the cases we settled in 2025 were opened in 2024, 2023, or even as far back as 2022.
That matters because it tells you two things:
First, fraud recovery takes time and persistence. A typical case takes around nine months, and complex ones can take longer. Banks tend not to agree to a payout the first time, and often not for the full amount lost. When the banks push back, cases can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service, but this again takes time and persistence. It is a process that takes patience and expertise.
Second, it is never too late to start, but sooner is better. Under the new reimbursement rules, you have 13 months to submit a claim, but the sooner you begin, the stronger your chances of success. Leaving it until the last minute could mean you are rushed and that you may not be able to pull together all the evidence required. Every one of those long-running cases began with someone deciding to ask for help. The sooner you start, the sooner your case can be resolved and the sooner your money can be safely returned to your bank account.
What to do if you’ve been scammed
If you have lost money to a scam, here is what we recommend.
Contact your bank straight away and report the fraud. Ask them to attempt to recover the funds and to consider you for reimbursement. Report the crime to Report Fraud (which replaced Action Fraud in December 2025), the UK’s national reporting centre. Keep everything: messages, emails, screenshots, payment records. These become the evidence that builds your case.
And if your bank says no, or offers less than you lost, speak to a specialist. As civil fraud solicitors regulated in England and Wales, we deal with the banks and the Financial Ombudsman on your behalf, and we act on a no-win, no-fee basis, so there is no financial risk in asking us to look at your case.
You are not alone
Perhaps the most important thing the 2025 figures show is just how many people are affected. More than four million cases in a single year. Fraud can happen to anyone. It is designed and run by organised criminal networks that deceive people for a living. Falling victim is not naivety, and it is not your fault.
If you have been scammed, don’t suffer in silence and don’t assume the money is gone for good. Just tell CEL. We listen, we care, we win.
Think you have a claim? Contact CEL Solicitors today for a free, no-obligation chat about your case.
Frequently asked questions
Do banks refund scammed money?
Sometimes, but not always. Since October 2024, banks have been required to reimburse many victims of APP fraud, generally for payments up to £85,000 claimed within 13 months. In practice, banks can still refuse or only partially refund, and in 2025, less than half of the money lost to investment scams was returned to victims. If your bank says no, that decision can be challenged.
How long do I have to claim money back after a scam?
Under the reimbursement rules, you usually have 13 months from the date of the payment to make a claim with your bank. If the case goes to the Financial Ombudsman Service, separate time limits apply. The sooner you start, the easier it is to gather the evidence your case needs.
Can a solicitor help me get my money back from a scam?
Yes. Fraud recovery solicitors can challenge your bank’s decision, build the evidence for your claim, and take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service on your behalf. At CEL Solicitors, we act on a no-win, no-fee basis for APP fraud cases with losses over £3,000.
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.
