Fraud losses from people being tricked into transferring money to scammers surged by nearly a fifth last year, as criminals turn to AI to manipulate victims.

More than half a billion was stolen in 2025 after artificial intelligence created a “lower barrier for entry” for criminals, according to UK Finance.

Criminals managed to trick victims as AI has made it easier for communications to appear more sophisticated, send messages at scale and mimic celebrities or people’s friends and family members to get them to hand over their cash.

https://www.cityam.com/fraud-losses-surge-as-scammers-use-ai-to-manipulate-victims/