Scams and Fraud news in 2026
18 stories, newest first.
- October 2026
Spike in scam calls impersonating police forces using spoofed phone numbers
Report Fraud, run by the City of London Police, has reported a rise in scam calls that spoof police force phone numbers to obtain personal or financial details from members of the public.
Calendar phishing scam growing exponentially, security researchers warn
Security researchers say calendar phishing, where fake meeting or renewal entries appear in a victim's calendar to lure them to fake login pages, is growing exponentially.
Scammers retarget past victims using details harvested from fake Esta sites
Fake Esta websites are harvesting applicants' personal details and passing them to other criminals, leading to repeated scam calls and texts for months after the original fraud.
- September 2026
Which? warns of WhatsApp screen-sharing scams
Which? has warned of screen-sharing scams on WhatsApp in which fraudsters pose as banks, the police and the FCA, with one victim losing more than £27,000 over three days.
- August 2026
Which? warns of wave of fake Apple Pay suspension texts
Which? has warned of a new wave of fake text messages claiming Apple Pay has been suspended, which ask recipients to re-enter card details through a link.
Which? publishes updated guidance on spotting online shopping scams
Which? has published updated guidance on identifying fake shopping websites, warning that artificial intelligence tools now let criminals build convincing scam sites in minutes.
- July 2026
Card fraud has rebounded, affecting 14% of people in two years
A Which? survey found 14% of people experienced card fraud in the last two years, with the figure rising to one fifth among 25 to 34-year-olds, as an automatic card-updating service helps fraudsters keep spending.
Deadline set for migration to New Payments Architecture
The Payment Systems Regulator has set 1 July 2026 as the deadline for migrating Faster Payments to new infrastructure, with its APP fraud reimbursement rules carrying over.
Independent evaluation of the APP scams policies concludes
Frontier Economics has published its independent evaluation of the Payment Systems Regulator's APP scams policies, and the regulator has set out a timetable running to a formal consultation in December 2026.
- June 2026
Which? finds cancelled card loophole can let fraud follow replacement cards
Which? has found that automatic card updating services can carry stolen card details onto replacement cards, and that most major high street banks give customers no way to opt out.
Which? reports card-not-present fraud hit record case volumes and losses in 2025
Which? reports that card-not-present fraud reached record case volumes in 2025, with 3.2m cases and £423.5m in losses, as overseas processing of online card fraud rose to 77%.
- May 2026
Which? warns of bank impersonation scam using one-time passcodes
Which? has reported how a Barclays customer was defrauded after a genuine fraud call from the bank primed them to trust a later scam call asking for one-time passcodes.
- April 2026
Which? warns of PayPal 1p deposit scam triggering fake phone calls
Which? has warned that scammers are sending 1p deposits to PayPal accounts to trigger genuine PayPal emails, then telephoning recipients to extract personal and financial information.
- March 2026
Fake British Gas cold calls reported, with callers knowing recipients' personal details
Which? has reported cold calls from scammers impersonating British Gas, with some recipients saying the callers already knew their email address and postcode.
Government publishes Fraud Strategy 2026 to 2029
The government has published its Fraud Strategy 2026 to 2029, setting out plans on reporting, victim support and policing as industry figures put banking fraud losses at about £1.3 billion in 2025.
- February 2026
Financial Ombudsman Service warns people to be on high alert for online investment and employment scams
The Financial Ombudsman Service received 31,300 fraud and scam complaints in 2025 and has urged the public to stay alert to online investment and employment scams.
National Trading Standards warns of AI voice-cloning survey scam leading to unauthorised direct debits
National Trading Standards has identified a scam in which cold callers posing as lifestyle survey researchers use AI to clone victims' voices and set up direct debits without their knowledge.
- January 2026
Page updated to reflect the change from Action Fraud to Report Fraud
The Valuation Office Agency has updated its business rates agent guidance so that fraud reports are directed to Report Fraud rather than Action Fraud, in a change dated 26 January 2026.