Brits lost £50.1m ($65.9mm, €57.8m) to investment scams in 2018, with just £3.9m returned to customers, according to figures from UK Finance, which describes itself as the collective voice for the banking and finance industry.
The number of cases was 3,385; although it is likely much higher, as people who are victims of investment scams can often be too embarrassed to report it to the police.
This equates to a return rate of just 7.8%.
UK Finance represents more than 250 organisations across the sector and its Economic Crime team is responsible for leading the industry’s fight against economic crime across the country.
Broken hearted
Similarly, victims of romance scams are less likely to come forward, meaning that the £12.6m lost to fraudsters last year is likely much higher.
Just £600,000 was returned.
Drop in the ocean
According to UK Finance’s Fraud the Facts 2019 report, the finance industry stopped more than £1.6bn of unauthorised fraud last year – but criminals were still able to steal £1.2bn.
Most of this was lost to payment cards, remote banking and cheques.
