The £221 Million Scam Epidemic Hiding On Social Media

What Happened

A scammer no longer needs to break into your bank account to steal your money. An investment advert on Instagram or a convincing WhatsApp message can be enough to persuade you to send it yourself.

That shift is showing up in the UK’s fraud figures. Investment scams cost UK victims £221.5 million in 2025, up 40% from the previous year, according to UK Finance. Total fraud losses approached £1.3 billion.

According to UK Finance, 66% of authorised push payment (APP) scam cases begin online. Wirex saw a similar pattern in the first half of 2026, when social media investment scams were its most common fraud type.

“We’re seeing that fraud is moving away from theft and towards deception, and a lot of that comes from investment scams that start on social media, which was the most common type we saw.”

A fake investment opportunity or a message from someone impersonating a bank employee can build trust before the request for money arrives.

Under UK rules introduced on October 7, 2024, eligible victims of APP scams through Faster Payments and CHAPS can be reimbursed up to £85,000 per claim. The sending and receiving payment firms generally split that cost equally.

Market Context

Losses from scams in which people authorised the payment rose 19%, while fraud involving payments taken without permission fell 5%.

That leaves payment firms trying to stop transfers their own customers insist are legitimate.

Why It Matters

The scam, however, may have begun on an entirely different company’s platform.

“Even if we’ve done everything possible to inform the customer it’s a scam, the big tech social media companies face no implications, giving them no incentive to stop it. In fact, these platforms profit from scam adverts, reach and engagement that allow fraud to spread.”

The consultation closed October 2. A final position is expected in mid-2027, with parliamentary approval still required afterward.

Details

Chet Shah, CEO of Wirex Limited, the UK-regulated payments arm of Wirex, told BeInCrypto that much of the problem begins outside the banking system.

The Scam Is Often Over Before the Money Moves

Shah said some victims even resist intervention from fraud teams, because they believe they’re not being scammed.

“The victim then authorises the payment willingly, often defending the decision if FinCrime teams question it.”

By that stage, stopping the transaction becomes considerably harder.

“That’s what makes it harder for a firm like Wirex to stop: by the time a payment instruction reaches us, the persuasion has already happened somewhere else, and the victim is snared.”

The victims are not limited to one age group. Wirex’s youngest potential victim was 20 and its oldest 82. Suspected fraudsters ranged from 18 to 86.

“This isn’t a young person’s crime anymore, and mule recruitment isn’t either.”

Shah suspects AI is helping criminals test new messages and scale the ones that work, although he says Wirex cannot know that for certain.

Social Platforms Host the Scam. Banks Pay for It

Shah argues that the burden of stopping these scams falls too heavily on the companies handling payments.

Regulators are considering changes. In July 2026, Ofcom published draft codes with nearly 40 proposed measures to tackle fraudulent advertising across social media, search engines and video platforms.

Seven Million Payments, and the Ones Wirex Stopped