Fraudsters exploited AI and high-return promises to steal more than £220m from UK investors last year, with cryptocurrencies among the assets used to lure victims, a new industry report warns.
Key findings
- UK banks logged almost 15,000 investment scams in 2025, according to UK Finance.
- Losses from scams that persuade people to move money into fake investments or fictitious funds reached £221.5m — a 40% jump year-on-year.
- Overall fraud losses in the UK hit £1.28bn, up 4%, across more than 4 million incidents. UK Finance calculates that roughly eight people are scammed of about £2,500 every minute.
How the scams work
Fraudsters promise outsized returns on everything from gold, property and carbon credits to wine and cryptocurrencies. These “investment” scams are attractive to criminals because of the potential for large payouts. Advances in AI have turbocharged the schemes: attackers can spin up convincing websites, scale up messaging and even clone voices, making fake investment platforms and cold-call pitches appear authentic.
“We’re seeing criminals use AI to make communications more sophisticated,” Ruth Ray, UK Finance’s managing director for economic crime, said. “It allows you to mimic voices of celebrities or even people’s friends and family to fool people into thinking they are dealing with a legitimate entity.”
High-profile wake-up calls
The Bank of England recently warned the public after AI-generated deepfake videos circulated online showing the Reform leader Nigel Farage apparently attacking the Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey — an example of how convincing fabricated media has become.
Other scam trends
- Authorised push payment (APP) fraud — where victims are tricked into transferring money to accounts controlled by criminals — rose by almost a fifth.
- Purchase scams (paying for nonexistent goods or services) and romance fraud (sending money to people with whom victims believe they’re in a relationship) also increased.
- The mandatory APP reimbursement scheme covered 88% of APP losses, the report says.
Calls for platform accountability
UK Finance repeated its call for tech platforms — where many scams originate — to do more: verify online sellers, invest in fraud-fighting expertise and contribute financially to prevention. “Given most APP fraud still starts via online tech platforms or via telecoms, we urgently need stronger, enforceable responsibilities to be placed on these sectors,” Ray said. Tech giants including Meta and TikTok were approached for comment.
Why this matters to crypto investors
Cryptocurrency is among the asset types used to entice victims, often with promises of quick, high returns. For crypto traders and newcomers, the combination of opaque markets, irreversible transfers and increasingly convincing AI-driven deception raises the urgency of heightened due diligence, platform verification and stronger regulatory duties on tech intermediaries.
Bottom line: AI has made large-scale, sophisticated investment scams easier and more profitable. The report urges stronger platform responsibilities and industry investment in prevention to stop criminals exploiting both new technology and investor appetite for alternative assets.
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