Fraud cost the UK economy £14.4 billion between 2023 and 2024, and the government plans to spend £250 million over the next three years to fight back. In its newly published 2026–2029 fraud strategy, the Home Office identified cryptocurrency scams as a growing threat to consumers and businesses.

Crypto Scams Emerge as a Core Focus

The policy paper warns that criminals are exploiting digital assets to trick victims into transferring money through social media and messaging apps. It labels crypto among the “emerging payments” where “vulnerabilities remain,” calling its risks both financial and reputational.

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Authorities say they are enhancing the National Crime Agency’s capacity to trace fraud tied to cryptocurrencies and supporting the Serious Fraud Office in crypto asset investigations.

These steps follow the FCA’s earlier crackdown on misleading crypto promotions and HM Treasury’s development of a new regulatory framework for digital assets due in October 2027.

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Under that framework, all crypto firms serving UK consumers will need FCA authorization and must meet the same standards as traditional financial companies.

Recently, the UK government announced plans to bring crypto under full FCA supervision by 2027 after UK Finance data showed a 55% jump in crypto related scam losses, while the FCA has accelerated its registration process and now approves around 45% of applicant firms, up from below 15% over the past five years.

Regulation Meets Politics

The government’s paper avoided mention of ongoing political debates over crypto donations. Lawmakers are weighing whether to ban digital contributions to parties after high-profile figures such as Nigel Farage publicly supported them. In 2025, early crypto investor Christopher Harborne donated about $16 million to Farage’s Reform Party.

A separate report by the Financial Action Task Force show show deeply fraud has embedded itself in mature financial systems, with the crime now accounting for more than 40% of all recorded offences in the UK.

The paper warns that cyber‑enabled fraud has become one of the most widespread profit‑driven crimes globally, as rapid advances in technology, new payment rails and virtual assets allow criminals to move funds across borders at speed while stretching existing AML and CFT controls.

The report illustrates how this trend plays out across key hubs. Singapore, for example, recorded a 61% jump in cyber‑enabled scam cases over just two years, while some countries estimate that up to 15% of adults have already fallen victim to successful online fraud attempts.

FATF links this surge to post‑pandemic digital adoption and increasingly sophisticated social‑engineering tactics that exploit digital platforms, instant payments and tools such as AI and deepfakes to reach victims at scale.