UK losses from hacked social accounts rise more than fourfold

The amount of money reported stolen through hacked email and social-media accounts in the UK has risen by more than 400% in a year, according to data from the City of London Police’s Report Fraud service. Reported losses reached £6.3m in the 2025-26 financial year, compared with £1.2m in 2024-25. Authorities said the real figure could be higher because some victims do not report fraud, sometimes because they feel embarrassed or lost relatively small amounts.

In many cases, criminals take control of an account and impersonate its owner. They may advertise fake tickets for sold-out events to the victim’s friends and relatives, using the trust associated with the account to obtain payment. Other scams involve messages in which criminals pretend to be a child or another relative needing urgent financial help.

The tactic is commonly known as the “Hi mum” scam. Santander data cited in the report found that fraudsters posing as sons were most successful among the bank’s customers, followed by those posing as daughters. Ch Supt Amanda Wolf, head of Report Fraud operations, said account hacking was not merely a technical problem.

She said victims could be locked out of accounts, worried about information being accessed and concerned that criminals would target people they know. Report Fraud is launching an awareness campaign urging people to improve their account security by using passkeys where available. A passkey authenticates a user through their device and biometric information and cannot be hacked in the same way as a password.

The service said a single compromised account could expose family, friends and colleagues to further fraud because criminals exploit trusted relationships.