UK Finance figures released this week have revealed that within the first half of 2019, £408 million was stolen by criminals through unauthorised cards, remote banking and cheque fraud.

The body has also revealed that £208m was lost to authorised push payment (APP) fraud, where customers are tricked into authorising a payment to an account controlled by a criminal.

UK Finance said that the compromise of personal and financial data remains a significant driver behind fraud losses. Customer details are being stolen through data breaches at third parties outside the financial sector, while sophisticated “digital skimming” attacks are being used to steal card data when consumers are shopping online.

Criminals also continue to use social engineering techniques to trick customers into divulging their personal information or transferring money.

Katy Worobec, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance, said: “Not only does fraud have a devastating impact on victims, the money stolen goes on to line the pockets of organised criminal gangs involved in drugs, arms and human trafficking. The finance industry is constantly investing in advanced security systems to protect customers from this threat, while helping law enforcement to apprehend and disrupt the criminals responsible.

“A new voluntary code was introduced in May that has significantly improved consumer protections from authorised push payment fraud, with signatory firms committed to reimbursing victims providing they have met certain standards.”

Ms Worobec added: “However, criminals are continuing to exploit vulnerabilities outside the financial sector to obtain customers’ data that is then used to commit fraud. We all have a responsibility to work together, including online retailers and social media companies, to beat the fraudsters and keep customers’ data secure.”

However, UK Finance has revealed that the finance industry prevented £820m of unauthorised fraud in the first half of this year.

This number is up 14% on the previous year and is the equivalent to £2 in every £3 of attempted unauthorised fraud being stopped, or £4.5m of fraud being prevented a day.