Identity Theft and Cyber-Fraud in the UK Hit All-time High

June 18, 2019

In 2017 the risk of fraud continued to evolve and intensify in the UK; identity fraud hit a new all-time high and cyber-enabled fraud accounted for an even greater proportion of the growing problem, according to the 2019 Fraudscape report.

In 2017 more than 305,000 instances of fraudulent conduct were recorded to the National Fraud Database:

Identity fraud continued to rise, hitting an all-time high of 174,523 cases in 2017 (up one percent from 2016). 95 percent of these cases involved the impersonation of an innocent victim.
Eight out of 10 fraudulent applications were made online.
There was a 27 percent increase in 14-24 year olds becoming ‘money mules’.
Overall bank accounts identified as being used as ‘mule’ accounts were up by 11 percent.
More than a third of bank account takeover victims were over 60-years-old.
Organizations successfully prevented over $1.6 billion in fraud losses through non-competitive data sharing.

This ‘retargeting’ by identity fraudsters can be seen as a shift towards more accessible products, such as mobile phone contracts, online retail accounts, retail credit loans and short-term loans.

Ransomware and the propulsion of the extortion economy has rapidly eclipsed into a national priority. Recently, we observed the catastrophic impact of a widescale ransomware attack impacting gas pipelines and raising national gas prices overnight.