Fraud has become one of the defining challenges for UK banking. Not only because of financial losses, but because of what it’s doing to customer confidence and the emotional bond between banks and the people they serve.

At CI&T, we wanted to see what that confidence looks like in reality. So, in conjunction with eLife, we analysed 48,000 public conversations about banking fraud across social media and online news between September 2024 and September 2025.

One emotion dominated the conversation: frustration.

People spoke about unauthorised transactions, slow responses, and difficult reimbursement processes. Many described feeling “abandoned” or “left in the dark” by their bank when things went wrong. For them, fraud was both a security failure and a communication failure.

Research from the University of Portsmouth paints the same picture: 64% of older UK adults faced fraud attempts within six months. Another study revealed a low willingness by customers to report fraud, which highlights a potential lack of trust in how banks handle these issues.
Behind those numbers is something deeper: a sense that protection is no longer guaranteed, and that customer service hasn’t kept up with the sophistication of fraud.

When silence sends the wrong message

Some banks are getting it right. Nationwide and Mastercard, for instance, earned praise for their visible, straightforward messaging around scams and online safety. Their posts are clear, frequent and above all, human, things that customers notice.

Others were far less vocal. Several well-known high street and digital banks let weeks pass without a single update, even as fraud stories filled news feeds and complaints spiked. Silence may seem neutral, but in a crisis, it speaks volumes.

Most customers don’t expect perfection, but they do expect presence. Think of it this way, if you ever find yourself panicking about a stolen payment or a suspicious call, seeing your bank talking openly about fraud – what to watch for, where to get help – sends reassurance that someone is paying attention.

Of course, it’s easy for institutions to believe that technology and internal controls fix everything. Sadly, they don’t. When banks go quiet, customers rarely assume strength; but they might sense distance. And distance breeds distrust.

The new rules of engagement

Something that changed the landscape last year was the Payment Systems Regulator’s (PSR) reimbursement scheme. Since October 2024, all banks have had to refund victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams up to £85,000 per claim, down from the £415,000 figure first discussed.

That shift turned reimbursement from goodwill into a legal duty. The baseline is now compliance. And what separates one bank from another is how fairly and quickly they act when fraud strikes.
We shouldn’t underestimate how much tone and transparency matter in all of this. A customer who feels listened to is far more forgiving of delays than one left chasing updates through automated emails. How a bank communicates in those moments becomes part of its brand, whether it realises it or not.

Many leaders I speak to admit that their fraud response processes are still too fragmented. Legal, risk and comms teams often work in silos. But the customer doesn’t experience it that way; they just see a single institution that either helps or doesn’t.

The rise of synthetic scams

Worryingly, fraudsters' tactics are becoming more sophisticated than ever. Late in 2024, Starling Bank issued a prominent warning about AI voice-cloning scams, where criminals copy the voices of loved ones to trick victims into transferring money. Around the same time, another major bank was fined for weak crime controls. Proof that even technologically advanced institutions can be caught off guard.

These aren’t isolated incidents. I’ve seen AI tools create deepfake videos, fake chat agents and cloned call-centre scripts. It’s fast, scalable and convincing and leads to victims being manipulated in real time.

The good news is that AI can also defend against these threats. Banks have long used machine-learning tools to monitor risk, but the recent surge in AI-driven fraud has forced them to drastically upgrade these systems, and invest heavily to catch up with the methods criminals now use. As a result, detection capabilities are becoming more sophisticated, spotting behavioural anomalies such as unusual spending patterns, changes in tone of voice, or even the rhythm of a conversation before fraud happens.

The next step is to use AI not just as a detector, but as a communicator: helping customers feel informed and protected at the same time. Solutions that combine both aims, like CI&T’s own AI-powered platform Flow, show how intelligence and empathy can coexist.

Reputation on the line

It’s clear that fraud and reputation are now inseparable. Every spike in media coverage we tracked coincided with regulatory fines, service failures or data breaches. Visibility usually came through bad news.

Yet there were some bright spots. Nationwide’s decision to waive the £100 excess on APP refunds was widely praised as consumer-first. Meanwhile, Santander’s “Break the Spell” initiative, which helps scam victims understand the psychological manipulation behind fraud, showed genuine empathy and earned goodwill online.

These gestures may sound small, l but they make a real difference. When customers see care, they credit it. When they feel ignored, they remember it.

Where do we go from here?

Fraud is no longer just a financial crime issue, but a human issue. The banks that connect data, design and empathy are more likely to move faster and communicate better than those still treating fraud as an operational task.

That means faster response times, plain-language updates, and technology that supports rather than replaces human interaction.

I truly believe that AI will be central to this shift: detecting fraud patterns sooner, closing gaps in service, and giving customers visible reassurance that someone is on their side.
Ultimately, the institutions that succeed will be those that pair intelligence with humanity. Because when people lose money to fraud, what they really want back is trust.

---

Want to learn more about how CI&T can help you harness your business's potential? Get in touch!