Every year, thousands of individuals and businesses fall victim to fraudsters that deceive and manipulate them into sending money under false pretences. There are many variations of such scams – from impersonating a bank, offering fake products for sale to feigning a romantic connection online before requesting financial help.
The Payment Systems Regulator and the payments industry have already taken steps to tackle these types of fraud. It is an important issue which can have a devastating impact on people’s lives. In 2024 alone, UK Finance report that there were around 185,000 cases, with losses of just over £450 million.
This independent research from Professor John Gathergood at the University of Nottingham in conjunction with Axiom Economics explores how criminals exploit consumer vulnerabilities and uses insights from behavioural economics to help inform potential further measures (from us and others) that might help to prevent APP fraud.
This report does not seek to evaluate PSR’s recent regulatory action in relation to APP fraud. We commissioned an APP scams independent evaluation for that purpose.
This independent research report does not constitute advice or guidance by the PSR for firms. The PSR does not have a role in assessing or advising on specific fraud (or other) controls or interventions that firms put in place.