UK Cybercrime Journal: £102 million Lost to Scams in 2025

Report Fraud (City of London Police) logged 10,784 romance‑scam reports in 2025 with total reported losses of £102 million (a 29% year-on-year surge). Scammers are increasingly using AI-generated personas, face-swapping and social‑engineering to groom victims—particularly those aged 55–74—then convert relationships into fake cryptocurrency investment or emergency payment scams; the UK has taken regulatory action against Xinbi, a crypto marketplace alleged to facilitate large‑scale fraud.