Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the financial losses to UK consumers resulting from fraud facilitated via social media and online platforms in each year since 2020.

The Government takes the issue of fraudulent activity arising on social media and online platforms very seriously. The Office of National Statistics estimates that, in year ending March 2024, nearly half of all frauds were online-enabled.

The department does not currently collect data on the financial losses from victims of fraud through social media channels directly. However, there have been 228,141 reports to Report Fraud of cyber-enabled fraud in 2025, totalling approximately £1.9 billion of losses. The government has also estimated that the total socio-economic cost of fraud to the UK was £14.4 billion between 2023-2024.

Whilst the Government does not collect this type of data directly, as part of the recently published Fraud Strategy, the Government has committed to working with industry, including social media and online platforms, to develop metrics, with the purpose being to improve transparency and accountability and track sectors’ performance in tackling fraud.

We encourage anyone to report instances of online fraud to Report Fraud, the UK’s dedicated fraud reporting service, and visit the Stop! Think Fraud website for information on how they can stay safe from fraud.