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Investment Fraud Awareness

Investment fraud victims lost an average of £25,612 each in 2025. That adds up to some £880million, with the number of reports rising by 31% on the previous year. It’s not surprising that numbers are growing with fraudsters becoming increasingly sophisticated at using AI-manipulated videos, cloned websites and deepfake endorsements to draw in their potential victims.

Commenting on the findings, Detective Superintendent Oliver Little, from the Lead Force Operations Room at the City of London Police, said: “Investment fraud continues to have a devastating impact on victims, many of whom lose life‑changing amounts of money.” He went on to urge people to: “take their time, carry out proper checks and get independent financial advice before parting with any money.”

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has a section on its website which helps consumers to check if a firm has the relevant authority to provide financial advice (https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/fca-firm-checker). Even having used this checker, consumers are advised to ensure they are speaking to legitimate firms and that they are not looking at cloned websites or information. The Police Report Fraud website (https://www.reportfraud.police.uk/) which replaced Action Fraud also has lots of hints and tips for spotting potentially fraudulent contacts.

If you are looking for advice on investments or if your situation has changed and you may therefore need to review your existing pensions or investments, contact Beckworth by using one of the links on our website.