Fraud now accounts for over 40% of all crime in the UK, prompting finance leaders to urge technology platforms, particularly in Silicon Valley, to take stronger action against online-enabled scams.
At the 2025 Economic Crime Congress, UK Finance highlighted the scale of the crisis, calling on global tech platforms to assume responsibility for how their networks are exploited and to work closely with regulators, law enforcement, and civil society to protect consumers. Criminals have stolen £629.3 million in the first half of 2025 alone—a 3% rise compared with the same period last year—underscoring the urgent need for enhanced preventative measures.
Despite rising losses and over two million cases reported in 2025, most fraud still begins not in banks, but on social media and telecom platforms, placing the spotlight on tech firms as the key battleground in the fight against economic crime.
The sector now spends an estimated £38 billion annually on compliance, much of it driven by anti–money laundering regulations rather than fraud prevention, placing a disproportionate burden on financial institutions while tech firms face comparatively limited obligations.
Industry leaders, lawmakers, and enforcement agencies warn that this imbalance is no longer sustainable, as banks continue to shoulder the financial and regulatory burden, tech platforms, where the scams typically begin, face comparatively limited accountability or cost exposure.
It follows renewed pressure for live data-sharing, stronger identity verification, and tougher regulation to prevent criminals exploiting gaps in platform oversight, user onboarding, and automated money-movement systems.
As the fraud landscape evolves, with AI-enabled scams, impersonation tools, and automated deception driving more sophisticated attacks, the responsibility for safeguarding consumers is becoming a shared one. The effectiveness of the UK’s fraud response will increasingly hinge on how technology platforms collaborate with the wider financial ecosystem.
Perttu Nihti, Chief Product and Technology Officer of Basware: “The warnings from UK Finance underline a hard truth highlights how fraud is no longer a problem that can be tackled by banks alone. At the same time, generative AI is accelerating invoice and payment fraud at an alarming pace.
Our research shows 62% of businesses now cite generative AI as a key driver behind the surge in invoice fraud attempts, with deepfakes and manipulated documents making attacks harder than ever to detect. Yet, 90% of organisations still lack the technology, skills and resources to prevent fraud effectively, leaving overstretched finance teams dangerously exposed.
Manual, fragmented processes only make the problem worse. Weak controls, decentralised operations and remote working give fraud more room to grow. This is why AI-powered automation is no longer optional, it enables real-time monitoring, faster detection, fewer errors and much stronger protection of cash flow.”
