The UK witnessed a significant surge in fraud last year, with losses doubling to £2.3 billion, making it the second-biggest year for scams in nearly two decades.
This alarming increase was highlighted in BDO's latest FraudTrack report, which also pointed out an 18% rise in reported fraud cases to a three-year peak and a 60% increase in high-value fraud cases exceeding £50 million.
Notably, half of these substantial frauds involved amounts over £200 million.
The report attributes this surge to the growing prevalence of online scams, phishing, system breaches, and push payments, where individuals are deceived into transferring money.
The use of artificial intelligence by fraudsters poses a future threat, potentially enabling more sophisticated frauds, the report added.