UK residents have lost more than £1 billion to fraudulent and cyber crimes in the first six months of the year, new research has found.

According to money.co.uk’s quarterly fraud report, there were 81,000 fraud and cyber crime related police reports issues between 1 April and 30 June in 2021.

In the second quarter of the year, Brits suffered a reported loss of £382.3 million. The average victim of cyber and fraudulent crime lost £4,719 (£176 more than the average lost in Q1 2021).
But the findings revealed a significant decrease in fraud and cyber criminal activity in the second quarter compared to the first.

At the start of the year, when the UK was in its third lockdown, 137,695 reports were made to the police. This means Britain has seen a 40 per cent decrease in the second quarter in comparison.

More than one report in five was related to online shopping and auctions, with 14,868 reports, resulting in a total loss of £11.9 million.

Cheque, plastic cards and online bank accounts had reported losses of £44.2 million, while dating scams saw Brits lose £20.5 million

“Brits have lost more than a billion pounds as a result of fraudulent and cyber crimes, showing the extent fraudsters have taken advantage of online shoppers during the national lockdown,” said James Andrews, personal finance expert, money.co.uk. “But it’s encouraging to see that cases have decreased significantly in the second quarter of the year, as life has started heading back towards normality.

Andrews added: "Still, with millions of pounds lost, it’s vital that individuals are aware of what they should be doing to protect themselves against fraudsters.”

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