Reuters: Welcome to Britain, capital of world bank fraud

In an article published by Reuters, Anna from central England, known for her editing, was initially deceived through an email that offered her a discount on a toothbrush.

Within minutes after she had filed her card records, she received a call from her bank saying that fraudulent transactions were being made. The next day Robert Clayton of Britain's Financial Conduct Authority called to say that they were pursuing responsible criminals but that her savings were in danger.

What was found to be the fact that it had nothing to do with any toothbrush, but there was no false department, no Robert Clayton. They were all part of a fraud to gradually lift Anna's life savings, and within weeks the plot had reached, in the amount of around 200,000 pounds (27,000).

Ana and many others are one of the thousands of people who have seen savings coming down this year from an unprecedented wave of online banking fraud that hit Britain.

The country is a global hub for such attacks, according to five of the largest British banks and more than a dozen security experts who said frauds were buying personal data groups of consumers on the grid, to target record numbers of internet purchases and banks since the pandemic.

A British record 754m pounds (1 billion, U.S.) was stolen in the first six months of this year, 30% more than the same period in 2020, according to data from the bank industry body UK Finance and more than 60% from 2017, since data was started.

This represents a fraud rate per head of nearly triple than the first in the United States in 2020, according to a Reuters estimate by UK Finance and the latest available data of the Federal Trade Commission.

The most sophisticated masquerade tends to begin in the United Kingdom, and then spend two years later in the US and then worldwide,” said Ayelet Biger-Leviin, deputy head of the product strategy at the US-based cyber security firm BioCatch, which provides anti-tech fraud against banks.

The National Economic Crime Centre agrees with the bank sector's assessment that fraud represents a threat to British security.

Britain's fastest pay network, which allows transfers between bank accounts, to be paid instantly than on an hour or day, both in the United States and other developed banking markets, means that criminals can quickly withdraw funds.

The fastest payment system has facilitated the fastest fraud,” said Richard Emery, an expert against fraud who is advising Anna and 63 other victims of fraud, whose average loss is 102,000 pounds.

British security experts and top bankers say many fraud attacks can be traced abroad, since India and West Africa, as Britain is increasingly exporting attacks on these frauds to banks.