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The Santander Quarterly Scamtracker reveals more than £18m stolen by scammers last quarter, with more than half swiped through purchase scams

  • The ‘Santander Quarterly Scamtracker’ charts trends in Authorised Push Payment (APP) scam types reported each quarter, the types of customers impacted, and warns of emerging scams  
  • More than £18 million stolen by scammers in Q1 with purchase scams accounting for more than half the amount, as criminals home in on Sabrina Carpenter and Coldplay concert tickets, among other items
  • Customers at either age of the scale saw the biggest increase in losses, with those aged 80+ up 7%, and 18-34-year-olds up 6% compared to Q4 2024
  • Research reveals two thirds (64%) of consumers are concerned about the possibility of being scammed1, as Santander warns to be on alert for fake SportsDirect ads on social media, as 450 customers fall foul in the last week

Santander UK is today launching ‘The Santander Quarterly Scamtracker’, which shows that a total of £18,404,965 was stolen from customers in the first three months of 2025. While this marks a 13% decrease in the amount taken by scammers during the previous quarter (Q4 2024), the bank has highlighted a series of new worrying trends emerging. 

Impersonation scams, advance fee scams and romance/friendship scams were called out as the top rising scams during Q1 2025, collectively accounting for nearly £3.5 million stolen from customers. The increase comes despite research from Santander showing that more than half of consumers say they are aware of romance/friendship scams (63%) and impersonation scams (49%)1. Worryingly, despite being the second biggest increasing scam type, the research also showed that less than one in five people reported being aware of advance fee scams (17%).

Despite decreasing by 17% quarter-on-quarter, the Scamtracker shows that purchase scams continue to account for more than half of all claims during Q1 2025, individually making up for another £3.5 million stolen. Cases involving gig tickets accounted for more than 10% of all purchase scam claims as scammers prey on the demand for Sabrina Carpenter and Coldplay tickets among fans.  

Chris Ainsley, Head of Fraud Risk Management at Santander UK said:  

“While a decrease in the amount stolen by scammers is welcome, £18 million is a staggering amount to have been taken from our customers and placed into the criminal underworld. Scams are evolving at breakneck speed, which can make staying on top of the new ones exceptionally hard for customers. Just this week we’ve seen the emergence of fake sportswear ads on Facebook leading to 450 customers being scammed out of their hard-earned money. Providing customers with the information they need to protect themselves from these criminals is vital if we don’t want to see that £18 million increase in the next Scamtracker stats.”

The Santander Quarterly Scamtracker Q1 2025 reveals:

  • While claims values are largely down across the board quarter on quarter, impersonation scams of other organisations which are not a bank or the police, such as HMRC, saw the largest proportionate increase, accounting for nearly 14% (£1.2 million) of the total amount stolen, up from 13% in Q4 2024.  

  • The value of claims as a result scammers impersonating the police fell by 40% from more than £1.9 million to just over £1.1 million.  

  • Customers aged 80+ reported the biggest increase in scams, up 7% on the previous quarter, driven by scammers impersonating banks, meanwhile those aged 18-34 saw an increase of 6% driven by concert ticket purchase scams.

  • The tracker will be released by Santander on a quarterly basis to chart the most common ways scammers are targeting customers of different ages as well as emerging trends consumers should be wary of.  

 

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The information contained in our press releases is intended solely for journalists and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions.

Notes to Editors:  

  1. IPSOS polling of 2,014 respondents, between 24-27 January 2025.  
  2. Santander’s Quarterly Scam Tracker data customer APP scam claims raised between 1 January –28 March 2025.  

Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. At 31 December 2024, the bank had around 18,000 employees and serves around 14 million active customers, including 7 million digital customers via a nationwide branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the FCA and the PRA in the UK. Santander UK plc customers’ eligible deposits are protected by the FSCS in the UK.

Banco Santander (SAN SM, STD US, BNC.LN) is a leading commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain and one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. The group’s activities are consolidated into five global businesses: Retail & Commercial Banking, Digital Consumer Bank, Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), Wealth Management & Insurance and Payments (PagoNxt and Cards). This operating model allows the bank to better leverage its unique combination of global scale and local leadership. Banco Santander aims to be the best open financial services platform providing services to individuals, SMEs, corporates, financial institutions and governments. The bank’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal and fair way.