GeraGuard · Fraud
Bank and credit account fraud
Bank and credit account fraud is the unauthorised use of, or access to, your bank account, debit card, credit card or other payment account — for example fraudulent transactions, account takeover, or card details stolen and used without your permission.
Quick answer
The ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated 2,449,000 incidents of bank and credit account fraud in year ending March 2025 — about 50.5% of all fraud and computer-misuse incidents that year.
2,449,000
Estimated incidents · Fraud · year ending March 2025
How to protect yourself
- Turn on real-time transaction alerts so you see every payment as it happens.
- Never share a one-time passcode, full PIN or online-banking password — your bank will never ask for them in full.
- If a message says your account is at risk, hang up and call the number on the back of your card, not a number the message gives you.
- Check statements regularly and report unrecognised transactions to your bank immediately.
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How common is bank and credit account fraud in the UK?
The ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated about 2,449,000 incidents of bank and credit account fraud in year ending March 2025 — around 50.5% of all fraud and computer-misuse incidents measured that year.
What is bank and credit account fraud?
Bank and credit account fraud is the unauthorised use of, or access to, your bank account, debit card, credit card or other payment account — for example fraudulent transactions, account takeover, or card details stolen and used without your permission.
Where does this figure come from?
Office for National Statistics (ONS) — Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), fraud and computer misuse. fraudandcomputermisuseappendixtablesyemarch25final.xlsx (Tables 1 and 2), reference period April 2024 to March 2025, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL v3). Retrieved 2026-06-27.
Other offence types
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS) — Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), fraud and computer misuse. fraudandcomputermisuseappendixtablesyemarch25final.xlsx (Tables 1 and 2), reference period April 2024 to March 2025.
Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL v3) © Crown copyright. Data retrieved: .