UK social engineering scams jump 62% as fraud tactics shift: BioCatch

While the United States is battling with credit card fraud and identity theft, UK consumers are being targeted by increased attempts at social engineering attacks, behavioral biometrics company BioCatch warns.

According to data from nine UK financial institutions serving more than 100 million accounts, in 2025, social engineering scams increased 62 percent year-on-year.

The result is unsurprising, according to BioCatch. Banks have been boosting their technological protections against fraud, leaving scammers with options such as social engineering attacks, which rely on psychological manipulation and deception rather than technical prowess.

Remote-access and malware-related fraud attempts both declined, while purchase scams (63 percent), investment scams (34 percent), and romance scams (47 percent) saw upticks, according to the 2026 Digital Banking Fraud Trends in the UK report.

Phishing attacks in the UK skyrocketed by 140 percent in 2025, while fraud tied to stolen devices wasn’t far behind, climbing by 112 percent. In London alone, more than 70,000 phones were reported stolen in 2025, according to police data.

“Stolen devices undermine strong customer authentication,” says Jonathan Frost, BioCatch global advisory director. “To address this, financial institutions should continuously assess behavioral intent, because once a bad actor has control of a trusted device, they can often commit fraud with relatively little friction.”

The company concludes that winning the battle against fraud will rely on sharing intelligence and using technologies and tools that identify behaviors, patterns, and signals during transactions and interactions.

Article Topics

behavioral biometrics  |  BioCatch  |  biometrics  |  financial services  |  fraud prevention