- Kent sees highest value swiped by scammers in UK in Q2 (April-June), with a total of £731,155 stolen
- Santander warns customers to be vigilant in Somerset as the area saw the highest increase across the UK – with the amount stolen up 189% compared to Q1 (January-March)
- The ‘Santander Quarterly Scamtracker’ charts trends in Authorised Push Payment (APP) scam types reported each quarter, the types of customers impacted, and warns of emerging scams
The Santander Quarterly Scamtracker, today reveals the UK hotspots which have been hit hardest by fraud in the second quarter, April-June, of this year.
Customers in Kent, followed by the West Midlands, Leicestershire, Essex and Somerset were the hardest hit by scams, when looking at amounts stolen, with a total of more than £3.2m taken over the three month period.
Kent saw the highest monetary value in scams this quarter, pushing it from third place in Q1 to the area with the largest amount stolen in Q2. However, despite the rise in ranking, the amount taken was actually a 39% drop in value compared to the previous quarter. Somerset saw the highest rise with the value stolen increasing by almost 189% on the previous quarter, bringing it into the top five most affected areas for this quarter.
The West Midlands, Leicestershire, Somerset and Essex also feature in the top five for this quarter, replacing Devon, Derbyshire, Hampshire and Greater Manchester which have fallen out the top five table.
Devon, which had previously been at the top of the rankings in Q1 with more than £1.3 million stolen, saw a 53% decrease in the value of scams that took place, down to £517,345 – removing it from the top five regions.
Top five regions ranked by scam value – April to June (Q2):
| Rank | Region | No. of scams | Total value stolen | % change in value since Q1 2025 |
| 1 | Kent | 157 | £731,155.23 | -39% |
| 2 | The West Midlands | 204 | £726,111,59 | 97% |
| 3 | Leicestershire | 143 | £640,826.92 | 63% |
| 4 | Essex | 203 | £586,729.22 | -42% |
| 5 | Somerset | 64 | £541,039.73 | 189% |
Chris Ainsley, Head of Fraud Risk Management at Santander UK said: “Today’s data shows us how quickly scams shift. It’s positive to see areas that were hit hard in Q1, like Devon, starting to fight back with a reduction in the amount scammers are get away with. However, the decreases aren’t universal, and other areas - like Somerset - have seen a massive increase in amounts stolen by scammers, showing how rife the problem remains. Providing customers with the information they need to protect themselves from these criminals is vital if we want to start to see the values stolen go down across the board and really take a stand against the scammers.”
-ENDS-
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Notes to Editors:
1. Santander’s Quarterly Scam Tracker data customer APP scam claims raised between April and June 2025.
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. The bank serves its customers via a nationwide branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the FCA and the PRA in the UK. Santander UK plc customers’ eligible deposits are protected by the FSCS in the UK.
Banco Santander (SAN SM) is a leading commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain and one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. The group’s activities are consolidated into five global businesses: Retail & Commercial Banking, Digital Consumer Bank, Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), Wealth Management & Insurance and Payments (PagoNxt and Cards). This operating model allows the bank to better leverage its unique combination of global scale and local leadership. Santander aims to be the best open financial services platform providing services to individuals, SMEs, corporates, financial institutions and governments. The bank’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal and fair way. Santander is building a more responsible bank and has made a number of commitments to support this objective, including raising €220 billion in green financing between 2019 and 2030. In the first quarter of 2025, Banco Santander had €1.4 trillion in total funds, 175 million customers, 7,900 branches and 207,000 employees.