Cloning scams remain top fraud threat for prospective investors as investment industry urges vigilance

The Investment Association (IA) – the trade body for the investment management industry – is urging consumers looking to invest to remain alert to cloning scams, as it releases its annual 2025 fraud statistics.

Based on data collected from member firms on reported fraud incidents, this year’s statistics reveal that brand cloning scams were the leading source of fraud impacting consumers looking to invest for the second year running. A total of 1,111 cases were identified, representing 67% of reported frauds.

Cloning is when criminals create a nearly identical duplicate of a genuine website, email or even create a fake WhatsApp group, using a company’s brand and logo, to trick people into parting with their money. 

People can protect themselves by taking the following steps:

• Stop: Before investing money, use the FCA’s Firm Checker tool to see if a firm is authorised and has the correct permissions to provide the services it is offering. Double check a sender’s email address or website URL. Criminals often use addresses that look like legitimate ones but may have slight differences.
• Challenge: Ask yourself, could it be fake? Does the investment return seem too good to be true? It’s ok to reject, refuse or ignore any requests.
• Protect: If you think you’ve been scammed, contact your investment provider or platform immediately, ensuring these are the genuine contact details, and report it to Report Fraud.

In addition to cloning, customers of investment firms should also be alert to account takeover fraud. This occurs when a fraudster uses information they have gained about an individual to change the address or payment details of an account, allowing them to redeem the investment and take the proceeds. In 2025, there were 251 reports of this type of fraud, making it the second most prevalent fraud, after cloning.

The IA’s data also shows how firms and consumers are reducing the financial impact of fraud by remaining vigilant. Losses due to fraud decreased by 70%, falling from £13.1 million in 2024 to £3.9 million in 2025, with firms also preventing £19.6 million in losses last year.

Adrian Hood, Regulatory & Financial Crime Expert, at the IA said: “Cloning scams remain the most common fraud affecting people looking to invest. They can be highly convincing, using fake websites, emails or even WhatsApp groups that closely mimic genuine firms. That’s why, as more people start investing, it is vital that awareness of these scams grows too. Consumers should take time to check who they are dealing with, question anything that feels unusual, and use tools such as the FCA’s Firm Checker before taking an investment decision.”

Lucy Castledine, Director of Consumer Investments at the FCA, said: "Fraudsters are ruthless and will stop at nothing to steal your money, including impersonating well-known, authorised firms. Every year, people lose life-changing sums to these scams and the consequences can be devastating. Before investing, use FCA Firm Checker to confirm you're dealing with the real firm, check it is authorised and use its official contact details – it only takes a moment and could protect your savings."

Notes to Editors

The IA’s annual fraud statistics capture fraud incidents reported by participating IA member firms through a twice-yearly data collection. They are not a measure of all investment fraud across the UK, or all scams experienced by consumers. They are a member-submitted picture of fraud affecting investment management firms, their customers and consumers looking to invest.

Members are asked to submit fraud cases from the following categories: subscription fraud, account takeover, cheque interception, cloning, other external fraud, internal fraud and procurement-related fraud.